Ex-minister Murid Kazim, others convicted in illegal land transfer

PESHAWAR: An accountability court convicted former Revenue Minister Syed Murid Kazim on charges of misuse of authority in a case of illegal transfer of 1,976 kanal of state land in Dera Ismail Khan.

The accountability court’s senior judge Ishtiaq Ahmad Khan sentenced the ex-minister and five other officials to 51 days of imprisonment for misusing their authority.

The accountability court adopted leniency in awarding punishment to the accused in the case as the land has already been returned to the government.

Murid Kazim was elected MPA a few times from his native Dera Ismail Khan and also served as a minister. He remained associated with different political parties, including the ANP. As per the detailed order, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) prosecutors proved the misuse of authority against the former revenue minister and other officials to seek their conviction in the case. It said the accused Murid Kazim in his tenure as Minister of Revenue, in connivance with the co-accused, got illegally transferred 1,976 kanal of state land to the Naval Families Rehabilitation Organisation (NFRO) in 2010. As per rules these powers vested with Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Subsequently, 182 kanal of land was also illegally transferred. The sentences awarded to the convicts include 51 days each to Murid Kazim and Riaz Mohammad, 54 days each to Mulazim Hussain and Abdur Rasheed, 194 days to Gul Hassan and 195 days to Qayyum Nawaz.

The court, however, declared another accused, Ihsanullah Mehsud, former Senior Member Board of Revenue, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, as a proclaimed offender for not facing the trial and issued a perpetual warrant of arrests against him.

The former minister was arrested by NAB on August 3, 2015, and was released on bail by the Peshawar High Court on September 22, 2015. He and other five convicts have already spent their conviction period and are not required to be arrested and sent to jail.

In this case, the NAB executive board had authorised investigation on July 15, 2015 and decided to refer the case of retired Commodore Sarfaraz Afzal of the NFRO to the Pakistan Navy for appropriate action under rules.