Waqf property allotment case: Punjab ACE gives Nawaz clean chit, drops inquiry

LAHORE: An inquiry against former prime minister Nawaz Sharif pertaining to alleged illegal allotment of Waqf property attached to Baba Fariduddin Masud Ganj Shakar in Pakpattan has been dropped by the Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE), Punjab, Sahiwal region, The News has learnt.

The Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PMLN) supremo has been given a clean chit by ACE Punjab, said the sources. The anti-corruption body did not find any involvement of Nawaz Sharif in the case and declared him innocent.

Sources in the ACE said that Nawaz Sharif’s name was included in the inquiry to victimise him politically. ACE Punjab Additional Director General (ADG) Waqasul Hasan made it clear that Nawaz Sharif had nothing to do with the case of alleged illegal allotment of the Waqf property. In 2019, Nawaz Sharif was interrogated by an ACE Punjab team in Kot Lakhpat prison regarding alleged illegal allotment of a property attached to the shrine of Baba Fariduddin Masud Ganj Shakar in Pakpattan.

After the Partition, Dewan Ghulam Qutab and his family used to be the owners of the shrine’s land as per the revenue record from 1947 to 1958. The family sold pieces of the land to different people until Jan 1, 1970, when the Punjab government notified the Auqaf Department as the rightful owner of the land and Dewans as the custodian of the shrine.

Later, Dewans moved the Lahore High Court, but the case was decided against them. In 1986, the government withdrew its 1970 notification and Dewans reciprocated by withdrawing their appeal before the Lahore High Court against the decision. With this, the Dewans resumed their land-selling business and the revenue department issued ownership rights (fard) to all buyers.

In the meantime, a 1981 case regarding 17-marla land was filed in a civil court, and it later reached the Supreme Court in 2015. The apex court chief justice took suo moto notice of the land deals of the shrine and summoned officials of the revenue and Auqaf departments and the Dewans. After some hearings, the SC declared the notification of Aug 28, 1986, illegal and nullified all land deals done since then. The decision reportedly affected 100,000 residents of different localities.