Shrine land case
\nINP
\nISLAMABAD
\nFormer prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, appeared before the Supreme Court on Tuesday in a 1985 case regarding illegal construction of shops on shrine land in Pakpattan.
\nSharif was the chief minister of Punjab during that period three decades ago.
\nAt the onset of the hearing, the lawyer of Mr. Sharif informed the CJP that he had issued summon to his client.
\nThe CJP referred to the former PM and asked: \u201cDid you de-notify the Auqaf Department\u2019s property?\u201d Sharif responded: \u201cThe case dates back to 32 years and as per my record, I have taken no such decision [to hand over shrine property to anyone]\u201d.
\n\u201cThe property belonged to the Auqaf Department, but some people who claimed to be its real owners approached the district judge,\u201d said the chief justice.
\nThe CJP suggested formation of the JIT if the case required further probe.
\nMr Sharif responded, saying: \u201cYou can form some other body instead of the joint investigation team\u2026 it doesn\u2019t feel good to see the mention of the JIT\u201d
\nJustice Nisar asked the former PM to decide himself what should be done in the case. \u2018After all, meeting out justice is not only judiciary\u2019s job,\u2019 he added.
\nThe hearing of the case was adjourned for a week.
\nThis was the first time Mr. Sharif appeared in person before the Chief Justice of Pakistan, Mian Saqib Nisar. During the last hearing, the lawyer of the former PM had submitted response on behalf of his client.
\nThe court had ordered the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader to appear in person before the apex court.
\nChief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, in the hearing on Oct 19, asked defence lawyer Iftikhar Gillani, \u201cUnder which law, the shops were built on the shrine land?\u201d
\nThe lawyer responded that the court, after 29 years, stating that the notification was unconstitutional. The CJP reprimanded the counsel and said: \u201cThe court is responsible for supremacy of the Constitution. My benches will hear your cases,\u201d he added.
\nThe bench was informed that 8,000 kanal land of the Pakpattan shrine belonging to the Auqaf department was sold as per a 1985 order. \u201cHowever, later the Auqaf department declared it a charitable endowment and a court judgment has also been passed in this regard,\u201d the counsel informed the court.
\nThe chief justice also inquired about the Auqaf secretary in 1985 who issued the orders. \u201cWe will issue a notice to him as well,\u201d he remarked. The additional advocate general Punjab informed the chief justice that then Auqaf secretary had passed away.
\nThe defence counsel added that: \u201cIf you want to issue notices then issue them to all owners of such properties across Pakistan. There are 8,000 such people.\u201d \u201cWe will issue notices to everyone,\u201d Justice Nisar had responded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Shrine land case INP ISLAMABAD Former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, appeared before the Supreme Court on Tuesday in a 1985 case regarding illegal construction of shops on shrine land in Pakpattan. Sharif was the chief minister of Punjab during that period three decades ago. At the onset of the hearing, the lawyer of Mr. Sharif […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":38726,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38719","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-top-news"],"yoast_head":"\n