ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan will take up another Calibri-like scandal today (Thursday) as the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan is accused of submitting a fake no-objection certificate (NOC) about his Banigala mansion before the apex court.
A former union council secretary of Bhara Kahu on Wednesday told the apex court that the computerised document submitted by Imran Khan’s lawyer in the Supreme Court was not genuine as the union council office did not even have a computer system in 2003, the year when the controversial document was purportedly issued. The Supreme Court had in past issued strong warning against submitting fake documents in the court and while hearing famous Panama case against former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, Justice Azmat Saeed of the apex court had warned that there was a seven-year-imprisonment for those who submit false documents in the court.
As part of a three-member Panama implementation bench, Justice Azmat Saeed took strong exception to the allegations of the Panama case Joint Investigation Team (JIT) that a trust deed submitted by Nawaz Sharif’s daughter Maryam Nawaz about Avenfield apartments was forged. “Raja Sahab, what have you people done?” Justice Azmat had asked while addressing the defence lawyer Salman Akram Raja. The JIT alleged that the deed had been written in Calibri typeface which was not commercially available at the time of signing of the document in February 2006. However, last week, Robert M Radley, a key witness in the case, told an accountability court that the beta version of Calibri font existed when the trust deed of the property was prepared and he himself downloaded the beta version in 2005.
In a strikingly similar case, now Imran Khan is accused of submitting a fake NOC purportedly issued by the union council in Bhara Kahu for the construction his Banigala residence. The document was presented before the apex court bench hearing Imran Khan’s petition against illegal constructions in Banigala area in the previous hearing, but the chief justice had ordered verification of the document. In his response submitted in the Supreme Court, the former secretary of Bhara Kahu union council Muhammad Umar claimed that the document dated 2003 was fake as he did not issue the same. Interestingly, the document submitted by Imran Khan’s lawyer and PTI stalwart Babar Awan is computerised while according to Muhammad Umar the union council office did not have computer system in 2003 and all the paperwork used to be done manually. The former union council secretary claimed the blueprint for the residence was also fake, saying that the union council had asked Imran to submit a blueprint for a go-ahead but it was never submitted.
According to senior Supreme Court lawyer Akram Sheikh, presenting a fake document in the Supreme Court would result in serious legal troubles for Imran Khan has the status of certified Sadiq and Amin (honest and upright) member of the Parliament. He said forgery for cheating is punishable with an imprisonment of seven years and fine under the Pakistan Penal Code Section 468, while deceiving the Supreme Court is a separate crime.
The case is scheduled for hearing today (Thursday). During previous hearing, Babar Awan had presented the NOC and blueprint for the residence before the apex court by hand, but the chief justice had remarked that the court would not proceed without verifying the documents.
Interestingly, last year the PTI chief wrote a letter to the Chief Justice of Pakistan to draw his attention towards the “municipal lawlessness” in the area of Banigala but the fresh documents are now questioning the legality of his own house.
The Capital Development Authority (CDA) had declared the construction of the PTI chairman's house illegal in a hearing on May 9, 2017. A report was submitted by the CDA in the Supreme Court which stated that the authority has declared 122 buildings illegal which included Imran Khan’s Banigala residence.
According to a previous investigative report by a local newspaper, Imran Khan himself committed the same violations of the CDA by-laws in Banigala, for which he has sought the Supreme Court’s intervention. Imran Khan’s 300-kanal mansion is located in Margalla Hills National Park Area, which is a major and sensitive component of Zone-3 in the Islamabad Capital Territory.
According to report, Imran Khan had constructed his residence in the real estate of village Mohra Noor by violating two laws simultaneously: the Islamabad Wildlife (PPC&M) Ordinance, 1979 and the Islamabad Capital Territory (Zoning) Regulations 1992.
The residence of Imran Khan falls under the Zone-3 of the federal capital in which no private residential, farming, orchard scheme and any residential construction is allowed, whereas only old inhabitants were allowed to stay but under a controlled programme, without any expansion in their houses as per the clause ‘a-e’ of the Section 3 in Chapter-III of the Islamabad Capital Territory (Zoning) Regulations, 1992.
Besides being located inside Zone-3, Imran Khan’s residence is also constructed in Margalla Hills National Park. The park comprises the Rawal Lake and an area within a distance of two kilometres from the highest water mark of the Rawal Lake declared by SRO 443 (I) dated 28th April 1980 issued under Section 21 of the Islamabad Wildlife (PPC&M) Ordinance, 1979.
The purpose to declare any area as National Park is to protect and preserve the scenery, the flora and the fauna in their natural state and no private construction is allowed in the said area, but Imran Khan has not only constructed his house contrary to the provisions of the law, but also restricted public access by constructing a boundary wall around his house, which is otherwise not allowed under the Islamabad Wildlife (PPC&M) Ordinance, 1979.
