94-year-old widow appeals for dower recovery

PESHAWAR: A 94-year-old widow on Thursday appealed to the Chief Justice of Pakistan and other senior authorities to help her recover dower property allegedly occupied by a land mafia despite a court verdict in her favour.

Addressing a press conference at the Peshawar Press Club, the frail and visibly distressed Saeeda Sultan, the widow of Dost Muhammad Khan, said: “I have come here with my burial shroud. My dower case is the worst in Pakistan’s judicial history. I spent 50 years roaming the courts.”

She recounted that after her son, a doctor, returned to Pakistan and raised the issue through the media, the then chief justice Saqib Nisar took suo motu notice and referred the case to Civil Judge Mudassir Shah, who ruled in her favour and issued a final decree. She said the chief justice also directed the Revenue Department to separate her share and hand it over.

However, Saeeda Sultan alleged that corrupt officials in the Revenue Department accepted bribes from the land mafia and tricked her into signing documents under false pretenses. The land was never transferred to her.

She claimed the mafia continues to occupy the property, earning millions in rent and constructing luxury houses, while threatening to kill her and her family, including her daughter Kashmala and grandsons Waqas and Adnan.

“I visited the chief minister, the provincial police chief, and the deputy commissioner, but no one listened,” she lamented, accusing several individuals of issuing daily threats.“I don’t even have money for medicine,” she cried, adding that all her means of survival have been blocked by the individuals involved.