SC summons Nawaz on Dec 4 in Pakpattan shrine land case

–Former PM’s lawyer pleads court to discharge his client’s name from notice list

–Says Nawaz had nothing to do with executive order approving return of shrine’s land to Dewan family

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday ordered Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif to appear before it in person regarding the suo motu case pertaining to the illegal construction of shops on the land of Pakpattan’s shrine in 1985 when he was the chief minister (CM) of Punjab.

A three-member bench of the SC headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar has summoned the former premier on December 4.

During the course of proceedings, Sharif’s counsel Barrister Duggal submitted a concise statement saying that Nawaz Sharif had not signed any summary relating to the return of the shrine’s land during his tenure as Punjab CM.

While requesting the court to discharge Nawaz Sharif’s name from the case, Duggal argued that his client has nothing to do with the executive order of 1986 under which Auqaf Department Lahore returned a chunk of land to Sajada Nasheen of Baba Farid Ganj Shakar’s shrine. In response to Barrister Duggal, the CJP examined the Auqaf Department’s notification of 1986 under which the department withdrew its earlier notification of 1971 in order to return the land to Dewan Ghulam Qutabud Din in pursuance of Sharif’s approval.

The chief justice repeatedly asked Duggal whether they were talking about the same Nawaz Sharif who served as the country’s prime minister thrice.

In response, Duggal said that he has submitted the concise statement with the consent of Nawaz Sharif and further requested the court for assistance in the current matter; however, the bench observed that the court had decided to probe the former premier directly about the case.

The CJP said that if Nawaz Sharif had not signed the executive order then someone has deceived him, making it a case of forgery. He also turned down Duggal’s request for the withdrawal of his client’s name from the notice list.

Earlier in August, Chief Justice Saqib Nisar, during his visit to the Baba Farid shrine, had promised justice to dozens of protesters who sought ownership rights of the land they purchased from the Dewans, the caretakers of the shrine, during the last 70 years.

However, the Dewans claim that they had been declared caretakers of 14,500 kanals land of Baba Farid’s shrine even though the Auqaf Department says that the shrine caretakers had no right to sell the land as it was not their jurisdiction to sell ownership rights of the land associated with the shrine since centuries.

CASE HISTORY: 

After Partition, Dewan Ghulam Qutab and his family used to be the ‘owners’ of the shrine’s land as per the revenue record from 1947 to 1958.

The family sold the land to different people until Jan 1, 1970, when the Punjab government notified the Auqaf Department as the rightful owner of the land and Dewans the custodian of the shrine. When Dewans moved the court, the Lahore High Court (LHC) decided against them.

In 1986, the government withdrew its 1970 notification and the Dewans reciprocated by withdrawing their appeal from the Lahore High Court against the decision.

With this, the Dewans resumed their land selling business and the revenue department issued ownership rights (fard) to all buyers.

In the meantime, a 1981 case regarding 17 marlas land filed in a civil court reached the Supreme Court by 2015. The apex court chief justice took suo moto of the land deals of the shrine and summoned officials of the revenue and Auqaf Department and the Dewans.

After some hearings, the Supreme Court declared notification of Aug 28, 1986, illegal and nullified all land deals done since then. The decision reportedly affected 100,000 residents of different localities.

The Dewans filed a review petition with the Supreme Court against its 2015 decision which remained pending since then.