Illegal allotment: CJP suggests demolishing Islamabad’s elite club

Seeks suggestions from CDA, others about future of Gun and Country Club

ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar on Tuesday suggested demolishing the Gun and Country Club (GCC) or parts of it, which have been built illegally, and handing over the land to Polyclinic hospital, which is in dire need of expansion and improvement.

The court also sought suggestions from the Capital Development Authority (CDA) and other concerned about future of the GCC after the club representatives conceded that the land was not transferred by the CDA and instead only a few NOCs were issued when the facility was established in 2002.

Built as a shooting facility for the 2004 South Asian Games, it was later converted into a club and now has over a thousand members and 170 employees. The CJP was told that then-chief executive General Pervez Musharraf had allowed the establishment of the club on the land.



“He [Musharraf] was a usurper. He had no mandate or authority to award the land [without the CDA’s approval]. He did not even have the authority to allot a khokha (kiosk),” the chief justice said.

At one point, Justice Nisar ordered immediate demolition of the marquee but Additional Attorney General (AAG) Nayyar Abbas Rizvi objected to the demolition of the state-of-the-art facility, where, he said, Islamabad could host the SAF Games at any time.

“If it is an illegal structure it should be demolished and the land should be given to Polyclinic,” the CJP said.

He termed the initial lease by the CDA to be illegal and the club’s construction to be an encroachment. “This is state land. You had best remove this structure within six-to-ten days,” he said and adjourned the case until July 9, seeking recommendations from the CDA and others.

The AAG also informed the court that the marquee was built when Faisal Sakhi Butt was the administrator of the club during the last Pakistan Peoples Party government.

The court also summoned Butt as well as the club’s first administrator Lt Gen Arif Hassan and Daniyal Aziz, who remained GCC administrator during the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz government.

The AAG informed the court that apart from six shooting ranges, facilities in the club include a dining hall, a lounge, three swimming pools, a health club, a spa and saloon, and tennis courts.

The CJP said Polyclinic, the second largest public hospital in Islamabad, lacked even MRI and CT scan machines.

“There is only one window where patients wait for more than an hour and a half for their turn to get medicines. Who will be responsible if a patient collapses there?” he said. The top judge said he would be visiting the hospital again in a couple of days.