Probe into land allotments opens can of worms

Investigations stopped; land worth trillions of rupees doled out to influential people, builders by revenue officers

KARACHI:

Shocking revelations have emerged regarding the fraudulent allocation of government land worth trillions of rupees to influential figures, land mafia, and builders through forgery and tampering of official records.

Sources indicate that the probe initiated by the Chief Minister's Inspection Team (CMIT) into these illegal allotments has been abruptly halted, allegedly due to pressure exerted by influential mafia elements.

However, CMIT Chairman Rafiq Ahmed Burriro denies any external pressure, attributing the stall in investigations to staffing shortages and the non-cooperation of revenue officers. Despite writing several letters, the Board of Revenue officials are not providing the required records, the investigation will be resumed soon, he said.

As per records, in the ongoing investigation conducted by the investigative team, Assistant Commissioner Abdulfatah Panhwar, Nazeer Abro, Mushtaq Jatoi, Asad Abbasi, Javed Ladhk, Mukhtiar Kar Abbasi, Asif Somro, Parvez Malik, Shamsad Ali, Tapidar Salim Raza, Khan Muhammad Imrani, Haq Nawaz Aijan, Mumtaz Kallu, Amanullah Nandwani, and others have been held responsible for embezzlement, causing trillions of rupees in losses to government properties. These officers doled out government land even to Afghan nationals on forged documents, the report said.

Sources said that the investigation team formed on the instructions of the former caretaker chief minister was given the task of investigating the illegal allotment of thousands of acres of government land, alteration of official records and large-scale forgery in the four districts of Karachi, West, East, Malir and Keamari.

While the investigation team has only been able to determine the forgery done on 5,500 acres of land in the Manghopir tehsil of West district, it was stopped from working with the return of the system, sources claimed.

The investigation report of Manghopir tehsil, has not been sent to the Chief Minister and Chief Secretary for further legal action despite the passage of a month. The investigation was initiated following public complaints of illegal allotment of thousands of acres of government land, alteration of government records and large-scale forgery.

According to the report, revenue officers have colluded with the Board of Revenue members and made allotments despite being prohibited by the Supreme Court. Sources say that despite the existence of outstanding records in the CMIT, the investigation of more districts has been stopped due to the pressure of the influential land mafia.

According to the report, investigations so far have identified government officials, private individuals and beneficiaries of the massive fraud.

The committee included CMIT member Agha Ijaz Pathan, Section Officer Syed Amjad, Mukhtiarkar Shaukat Bhangwar and Supervising Tapidar Mir Barkat Talpar. The committee was tasked to investigate cases of illegal allotment, fraudulent entries in records of rights to benefit private individuals, builders and land mafia and falsification of revenue records and deliberate destruction of records.

The team examined the allotment of land made by the Department of Land Utilisation from 2012 to 2023, despite a ban by the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

During the hearing of multiple constitutional petitions and suo-moto actions based on concerns of possible fraud and manipulation in property records, the apex court had restricted Sindh government's Land Utilisation Department from allotments.

The restriction mandated the government to halt mutation, allotment, and transfer of state land until the review of revenue records was complete. In the investigation, the issue of making thousands of acres of government land in exchange for huge bribes in the name of Afghan citizens by making illegal domiciles on a large scale and pretending them to be Pakistani citizens has also come to light.