Rawalpindi - In the eyes of the general public, a piece of land, measuring 10.5 Kanal, located in Bucha Morr on the verge of GT Road in Mandra was not significant.
The said land was purchased by Malik Muhammad Munir from a local landlord, Sakhawat, in 1986 and later on built structure for floor mill.
After the demise of Malik Muhammad Munir, who was father in law of the sister of Mian Muhammad Soomro, the former Chairman Senate And Federal Minister for Privatization in the incumbent government, the land is being looked after by his grandson Jawad Sohrab Malik, the nephew of Mian Muhammad Soomro.
On Friday last, the piece of land suddenly becomes a bone of contention between three giants of the federal government whose close relatives were seemingly on the verge of a fierce clash to establish their claim on the said land.
But, the timely intervention of Rawalpindi police averted any untoward incident.
However, the three heavyweights, including Federal Minister for Privatization Mian Muhammad Soomro, Advisor to Prime Minister for Overseas Pakistanis Zulfi Bukhari and Advisor to PM for Accountability and Interior Mirza Shehzad Akbar used their brutal force of power. They used undue influence to outdo each other.
In the tug of war, the two senior officers of district administration including Deputy Commissioner (DC) Rawalpindi Sardar Saifullah Dogar and Additional District Collector Revenue (ADCR) Capt (R) Rana Rizwan Qadeer have to chew steel nuts and were fired from their offices apparently on pressure of Advisor to PM on Accountability and Interior.
But, the big wheels of the PTI government are not ready to admit their fault of misusing the top public office of the country.
The clock was striking 8 am on Friday last when at least 10 persons, carrying two trollers loaded with blocks, reached in a piece of land and offloaded the material.
The area comes in jurisdiction of Police Station Mandra.
The ten persons who have already called a team of laborers started building a boundary wall on the said land.
A servant of Malik Muhammad Munir (Jawad Sohrab Malik) was present on the scene who immediately alerted Mandra police by phone informing him that some land grabbers wanted to occupy the land of his boss Malik Munir and sought help from him, they said.
Station House Officer (SHO) PS Mandra SI Nazir Ahmed in response to emergency call sent an Assistant Sub Inspector (ASI)
Umer Farooq to the site for taking action against the alleged land grabbers.
The police party headed by ASI Umer was in deep shock after reaching on the site when he was informed by the ten men that they were sent here by their boss Mirza Murad Akbar (brother of Advisor to PM on Accountability and Interior Mirza Shehzad Akbar) who owned two Kanal land here.
In the meanwhile, the servant ranged Jawad Sohrab Malik (who is the brother of late Barrister Fahad Malik) up and brought the circumstances into his notice who within no time approached his uncle Mian Muhammad Soomro informing him about the whole saga. Former PM Mian Muhammad Soomro contacted Inspector General of Police (IGP) Punjab Shohaib Dastagir and sought his help in this matter.
IGP Shohaib Dastagir phoned Regional Police Officer (RPO) Sohail Habib Tajik and City Police Officer (CPO) Muhammad Ahsan Younas and sought a detail report about the incident.
On the other hand, the second party called to Mirza Murad Akbar and shared with him the resistance on the part of police, sources said, adding that Mirza Murad Akbar sought help of his brother Mirza Shehzad Akbar, Advisor to PM, who phoned Deputy Attorney General of Lahore High Court, Rawalpindi Bench and requested him to help his brother to come out of this problem.
Within no time, all the persons, including Mirza Murad Akbar and Jawad Sohrab Malik, encircled by official guards of Federal Minister Mian Muhammad Soomro reached the spot and tried to influence the police.
The intervention of government functionaries and the IGP Punjab rattled the big guns of Rawalpindi police as SP Saddar and SDPO Gujar Khan Circle rushed to the scene and started inquiring the matter.
Police bosses negotiated with DC Rawalpindi about the case.
DC Saif Ullah Khan Gondal, sensing the sensitivity of the matter, ordered AC Gujar Khan Hira Rizwan to look into the matter and to verify the documents of both parties, sources said. Sources mentioned AC directed land revenue officers to visit the land and to submit ownership detail with the authorities concerned.
Earlier, the police bosses and AC also advised both parties to put up applications with PS Mandra so that the investigators could write a letter to high ups of the Land Revenue Department for demarcation to resolve the dispute on merit. Nonetheless, both parties refused to put ears on the advice by the police and AC.
In order to avoid bloodshed and tension between two parties, RPO Sohail Habib Tajik also asked them to lodge complaints with PS Mandra for the solution of the problem but in vain. On this, Mandra police prepared a report that none of the party is willing to listen to police, and the matter should be resolved through court, they said. Police bosses had ordered Muhafiz Squad to patrol around disputed land to maintain law and order situation. Similarly, official mobile vans of Islamabad police are also seen by the sources and locals while patrolling in the disputed land in Mandra Morr.
When contacted, AC Gujar Khan Hira Rizwan confirmed the development. She said the dispute between two parties on land is being resolved with the help of land revenue records. She told police are also investigating the matter.
On Saturday last, ADCR Rana Rizwan, in response to a letter wrote by CPO Rawalpindi, took up the land case and prepared a report according to which Sakhawat sold this land at the hands of Malik Muhammad Munir from Khana-e-Kasht. According to land revenue laws, the land, once sold in Khana-e-Kasht, cannot be sold out again in Khana-e-Malkiyat. Therefore, the ADCR declared the deal of land between Sakhawat and Mirza Murad Akbar as illegal and advised for revision of the case as per law. ADCR forwarded the report to DC Saifullah Dogar, who agreed with the report.
This made Mirza Shehzad Akbar annoyed who got fired both the officers from their offices.
Sources closed to Barrister Mirza Shehzad Akbar, who is Advisor to PM, however, claimed both officers of district government were removed from their posts on charges of receiving bribe from PML-N Senator Chaudhry Tanvir Ali Khan for sparing his house from demolishing in an Anti encroachment Operation.
They also alleged Mian Muhammad Soomro misused authority in a civil revenue dispute in Mandra, Gujjar Khan.
They informed Mirza Murad Akbar bought 17 Marla land on 13-4-2005 from Khasra number 473, Muaza Bucha, Tehsil Gujjar Khan situated on main GT Road.
They said he again bought another 23 Marlas land from the same Khasra on 9-6-2008.
In 2009, Murad gave an application to revenue office of Gujjar Khan for partition and possession of his land, they said, adding that After 10 years of hectic litigation, in April 2018, Gujjar Khan revenue office finalized partition suit and divided Khasra number 473 into two parts-473/1 and 473/2 making Murad Akbar exclusive owner of Khasra 473/1 measuring 40 Marlas.
After giving him possession, the revenue office also sectioned partition mutation number 2849 dated 31-5-2018, declaring exclusive and legal owner and possessor of Khasra number 473/1, the sources close to Mirza Shehzad claimed.
Murad Akbar got demarcated the dimensions of his land on 13-1-2020 before started construction, they said.
They consigned demarcation report in Tehsil office, Gujjar Khan, they said.
They alleged Jawad Malik visited Gujjar Khan revenue office on 13, 14, 15, 16 January escorted by Islamabad police vehicle and officials assigned for squad duty of federal minister Muhammad Mian Soomro.
On January 17 when laborers were working on Murad Akbar’s land to construct boundary wall, Mian Muhammad Somroo official escort number GAE 538 with uniformed Islamabad police official reached the spot. Another private Vigo UC-1-ICT, registered in the name of Jawad Malik, with armed guards reached the site and threatened the labors of consequences and asked to stop the work, they said.
Muhammad Mian Somroo called Mandra Police Station SHO and ordered to intervene.
Gujjar Khan revenue department, after examining the documents of both sides, decided that Murad Akbar, being legal owner, is within his right to build his wall.
Local SHO, under the influence of Muhammad Mian Soomro refused to stop Islamabad police officials in Punjab jurisdiction, they said.
On the other hand, Jawad Sohrab Malik knocked the door of court of law against Mirza Murad Akbar, accusing him of using his public office to grab his land. The court issued notices to Murad Akbar while postponing hearing till February 6, 2020.