Pakpattan shrine land case: SC appoints DG ACE as new JIT chief

LAHORE: The SC on Thursday formed a new Joint Investigation Team (JIT) to probe former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s role in the transfer of Pakpattan shrine’s land to Dewan Ghulam Qutab in 1985.

The CJP, Saqib Nisar, while heading a three-judge bench, had appointed the National Counter-Terrorism Authority (Nacta) Director-General Khaliq Dad Lak to lead the Supreme Court-mandated JIT. However, on Thursday, Lak excused himself from the role citing personal reasons. Following this, Justice Nisar named Punjab Anti-Corruption Director-General Dr Hussain Asghar as the new JIT head, tasked to probe the Pakpattan shrine land case.

Lak and other members of the JIT were present in the court when the bench took up the case. The chief justice said he already heard the concerns of Mr Lak in the chamber and the court would not force him to head the JIT. However, the chief justice observed that the court had showed its trust in Mr Lak by assigning him the task. “Such people are so fortunate,” he added. When asked to propose his replacement, Mr Lak suggested the name of Director General of Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) Punjab Hussain Asghar. The CJ remarked that Mr Asghar was also a man of integrity and regretted to have forgotten his name while constituting the JIT earlier.

Finally, the bench appointed the ACE DG as head of the JIT and directed all of its members to finalise within 10 days the terms of reference (ToRs) to investigate the matter.

The bench would resume hearing on Jan 8, 2019. Other members of the JIT are from Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and the Intelligence Bureau (IB). The team is empowered to co-opt more members for assistance.

In his reply, Mr Sharif had requested that the notice issued to him be discharged in the interest of justice. He stated that from the record collected from the documents submitted by the Punjab government in the SC, it transpired that the Auqaf Department, vide its notification of Jan 17, 1961, took over the administration, management and maintenance of the shrine.