A court in Lahore on Friday gave Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif and Vice President Maryam Nawaz a last chance to submit their response to a civil suit filed against them for allegedly encroaching upon 4,000 acres of land in Jati Umra.
As the court resumed hearing today, their lawyers requested it to give some more time to file the response. Giving them a last chance to comply with its order, the court adjourned the hearing until January 13.
The suit was moved by a Punjab University Professor Dr Abdul Rauf who alleged that the Sharif family had grabbed his forefathers’ thousands of acres of land in Jati Umra.
He claimed that he had documentary evidence that the land in question belonged to his forefathers and pleaded with the judge to issue directives for removal of encroachment from the land.
Abdul Rauf further demanded that the Sharif family pay him a sum of Rs50 billion as financial damages he suffered because of the illegal occupation of the land.
It is noteworthy that Maryam Nawaz is facing a land acquisition inquiry instituted by the National Accountability Burea (NAB) for allegedly acquiring 200 hundred acres of land in Raiwind in 2013 in violation of rules.
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The NAB has also summoned former DC Lahore Noorul Amin Mengal in this regard. This case is against former PM Nawaz Sharif, his mother Shamim Begum, Maryam Nawaz and Shahbaz Sharif.
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The NAB Lahore has asked Maryam to appear before the investigators on August 11 along with details of land acquired by her in Raiwind and Jati Umra. She has been asked to provide sources of funds from which the land was purchased. The NAB has asked Maryam to come with details if she has sold any piece of land along with details about the use of land whether it is being used for agriculture or any commercial activity.
As per sources, this investigation is about 3,568 Kanals acquired by the Sharif family in 2013. The NAB will also investigate the former PM along with his mother Shamim Begum after they return to the country from the UK.
Maryam is accused of acquiring 180 Acres (1,440 Kanals) of what was allegedly supposed to be government land in Raiwind. The land transfer was done during DC Amin Mengal and former DG LDA Ahad Cheema’s tenure.
A piece of land measuring over 3,568 Kanals was bought by the Sharif family in 2013. The largest part of the property, 1,936 Kanals, was transferred in the name of Nawaz’s mother Shamim Bibi. The land that was transferred to Maryam was 1,440 Kanals. A 96-Kanal plot each was also transferred to Nawaz and Shahbaz. The sources claimed most of the land was government land which the Sharif family illegally got transferred in their name at cheap rates.
Moreover, only the LDA had the authority to deal with such matters but the Sharif family involved local government officials. The property was declared as green land to stop construction around the Sharif family’s Jati Umra mansions.