In order to tame the civil bureaucracy, ministers or certain opposition leaders, plots are allotted by the respective governments as political bribes. However, in the army, only the senior ranks have the privilege of getting additional plots of land. This practice gained momentum during Zia-ul-Haq’s regime who obliged every person who mattered to prolong his rule. Plots of land were allotted to politicians, judges, senior bureaucrats, generals and own close relatives/cronies. The practice continues till today.
The case in point is the Judges Plot case being heard by a Division Bench of Lahore High Court to question the allotment of plots in Lahore’s Johar Town in 1993 to some 28 judges by the then Nawaz Sharif government. Why single out this particular case and why not check the allotment of plots by the previous rulers since 1970?
It should be investigated how many judges, MPs, Senators, bureaucrats and generals got plots in addition to their normal quota. The nation would be wonder struck to know the statistics of this loot and plunder. It must be given in the print and electronic media. The time has come to account for this heinous practice of dishing out plots and lands at nominal prices. Both the parties i.e., who allotted the plots and the allottee should be taken to task and should be made to pay the market price or their plots should be confiscated. Our debt-ridden country would then have enough money to pay back its debts.
MUHAMMAD AZHAR KHWAJA
Lahore
