Supreme Court Forms JIT To Probe Role Of Nawaz Sharif In Transferring Of Pakpattan Shrine's Land

Supreme Court on Thursday formed Joint Investigation Team (JIT) to probe the alleged role of Nawaz Sharif for being former chief minister Punjab in the case related to the transfer of Pakpattan shrine's land

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 13th Dec, 2018 ) :Supreme Court on Thursday formed Joint Investigation Team (JIT) to probe the alleged role of Nawaz Sharif for being former chief minister Punjab in the case related to the transfer of Pakpattan shrine's land.

A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar heard the suo motu case pertaining to the transfer of 14,000 kanals of land of the Pakpattan shrine to Dewan Ghulam Qutab in 1985.

Nawaz was the then-chief minister of Punjab province when the land in question was transferred.

The bench after going through the arguments and response submitted by the former prim minister, Nawaz Sharif decided to constitute JIT to investigate the case in depth.

Justice Nisar observed that the documents submitting before the bench related to property clearly highlighting that Nawaz Sharif as Punjab chief minister transferred the Auqaf Department's land to a private owner violating the Lahore High Court orders. However, Nawaz Sharif says he has no memory regarding the matter.

The Chief Justice then asked Barrister Zafarullah counsel for Nawaz Sharif, that which channel, you wanted to be investigate the case. To this Barrister said "You can get ask anyone to probe it." Subsequently, the bench constituted JIT which would be headed by National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA) Chairman Khaliq Dad Lak and comprise an official each of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and the Intelligence Bureau (IB).

The Chief Justice remarked that the rules and regulations of the JIT will be decided by December 27.

The bench directed the JIT members to appear before Supreme Court after submitting Terms of Reference (ToRs) by December 27.

"The JIT will probe the role of then-chief minister of Punjab province Nawaz Sharif in the transfer of the land," the SC bench further said.

On previous, hearing, former Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif refused to accept allegations levelled against him for allegedly transferring of Pakpattan shrine's land during his tenure as chief minister of Punjab in 1985.

Nawaz Sharif was appeared before a three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar and comprising Justice Ijazul Ahsan and Justice Faisal Arab in compliance with court orders and made the statement.

Former PM denied that he had not passed any order regarding withdrawal of notification of allotment to individual, Dewan Ghulam Qutab, in violation of a Lahore High Court order.

The Chief Justice suggested to form a JIT to probe the matter; Nawaz, however, said that his experience with JITs had not particularly been pleasant.

Justice Nisar observed that it was not a small matter, it was a matter of thousands kanal land worth of billions of Rupee," and asked the former prime minister to suggest how he wanted the matter to be probed.

Nawaz Sharif, who was the chief minister of the province at the time, had allegedly allotted Auqaf Department land around the Pakpattan shrine to an individual in violation of the Lahore High Court's (LHC) order.

In October, the top court directed Nawaz to submit within two weeks a reply related to the matter of withdrawal of notification concerning the Auqaf property attached with the shrine of Hazrat Baba Faridud Din Masud Ganj Shakar, Pakpattan Sharif, which had taken place about 32 years ago, when the matter was subjudice in the apex court.