The Punjab Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) has claimed to have retrieved government land worth billions of rupees from illegal occupation of over 30 years after registering cases against influential people, including more than 50 current and former elected representatives.
The department stated in a report sent to the provincial government that the legislators had occupied government land across Punjab, including in Lahore, Gujranwala, Sialkot, Gujrat, Mandi Bahauddin, Rawalpindi and Faisalabad, through their relatives and frontmen.
According to sources, the report alleged that PML-N’s former and current members of assemblies and ministers had built houses, markets, bus stands and cinemas on occupied land. It said most of the agricultural and commercial land had been vacated.
The department said the land had been occupied with connivance of officials of various departments and the cases had been registered on the basis of evidence.
Those facing action include Saiful Muluk, Mubashir Mubeen Dawood, Naseer Ahmed, Muhammad Tariq, Basharat Rana, Mubashir Mian, Javed Latif, Ehsan Raza, Wasim Akhtar, Ghulam Dastagir, Qasim Butt, Akhlaq Butt, Sarwat Ikram, Mohammad Latif, Mazhar Qayyum, Shahbaz Ahmed, Zeeshan Zeb, Mukhtar Ahmed, Khawaja Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Yasir, Ghaffar Dogar, Javed Hashmi, Shoaibullah Tarar, Naveedul Haq, Rana Irfan, Abdul Rahim, Mir Badshah Qaisrani, Ehsanul Haq Bajwa, Danial Aziz and Mohsin Shah Nawaz Ranjha.
According to Punjab ACE Director General Muhammad Gohar Nafees, action was taken against the occupiers after fulfilling legal requirements without any discrimination. The report has reportedly been sent to Prime Minister Imran Khan and Chief Minister Usman Buzdar.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 6th, 2021.
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