Property dispute: Islamabad High Court issues notice to PML-N

Ch Shujaat requests IHC to order production of relevant official documents

ISLAMABAD: The chief of the Pakistan Muslim League-Q has requested the Islamabad High Court (IHC) to issue an order for production of documents, undertakings and all other agreements among the incumbent prime minister, the then military government and Saudi Arabia in 2000 as they were crucial to resolve the issue of PML House located on Margalla Road in Islamabad.

A single bench comprising Justice Noorul Haq Qureshi issued notice to the Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) on the application of Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain on Monday.

Since 2010, PML-N is trying to regain control of the PML House on the Margalla road from its breakaway faction by legal means and to claim rent for the period it remained under ‘occupation’ of ‘Q-leaguers’.

In the financial statement submitted to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) before the 2013 general elections, PML-N had shown the house in the list of the party’s assets although the building was in possession of PML-Q which had also listed the building in the list of its assets.

The PML-Q established its office in the building before the 2002 elections when Nawaz Sharif was living in exile in Saudi Arabia.

In the application, Hussain, through his counsel Abdul Raziq Khan, stated that it was important to determine whether Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif made a deal with the military government and in pursuance abandoned politics and left the country for Saudi Arabia.

All the agreements between the parties, including undertakings of November 2000, are in possession of the federal government — presently being run by the plaintiff himself — and have great relevance to the case, Khan said.

Since the agreements are in possession of the prime minister and his government, the defendants would be unable to cross-examine the witness without production of documents. The counsel has sought direction for production of original documents in the court.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 16^th, 2015.