Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad and Rawalpindi Bar Associations on Saturday appealed to Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar to take action against Bahria Town head Malik Riaz Hussain.

Both bar associations requested the CJP to summon the record of FIRs and other cases pending against Riaz in various police stations of the country and the courts. “The entire machinery of the country is helpless in front of him as he is the most influential ‘property grabber’ of the country,” they said.

“The man has become a don, not only of Islamabad and Rawalpindi, but also of the entire country. He establishes housing projects of his Bahria Town wherever he pleases. Besides other parts of the country, Bahria Town’s projects are being established in Islamabad and Rawalpindi as well. He also influences the appointment of police and revenue officials to use them for his ulterior motives and to deprive the poor people of their properties,” they said.

“Not only police, revenue and district administration officials, but some politicians also follow him. Patwaris, gardawars and even tehsildars are appointed and transferred with Malik Riaz’s consent,” they said. They said in dozens of cases, patwaris changed the record and illegally transferred land to Malik Riaz. The lawyers’ representatives appealed to the CJP to take action against Malik Riaz and his son Ali Riaz for illegally occupying the land of a senior member of the bar, Raja Yasir Ali Abbasi.

“If Islamabad Police and the district administration fail to take action against Malik Riaz and his son, lawyers will stage a strong protest,” they said.

They said that a powerful land mafia was being run by Malik Riaz and his son. “They forcibly and illegally occupied Abbasi’s land,” they said.

Abbasi said that his FIR was only registered on the orders of justice of peace/additional sessions judge (East), Islamabad. The cost of his 18-kanal land runs into millions of rupees,” they said.

Narrating his ordeal, the affected lawyer said he had filed a complaint with the Bhara Kahu Police on July 26, 2017. However, his FIR was not registered. He moved another application to the Islamabad SSP, but nothing was done,” he said.

He said he then moved an application with the justice of peace/sessions court under Section 22-A of CrPC, who directed police to register the FIR under section 154 of CrPC.

He said despite the court orders, police was hesitant to register the FIR. “The FIR was later registered on the intervention of the legal fraternity,” he said.

Another lawyer said that land of dozens of poor people, including widows, of ‘Phulgran’, located in the suburbs of Islamabad, had been occupied by the land mafia run by Malik Riaz for the Bahria Town’s ‘Bahria Enclave’ project.

“On the compliant of a widow and some other affected people of the area, Additional District and Sessions Judge Sikandar Khan had ordered police on September 21, 2017 to file a case against the accused, but nothing was done,” the lawyer said.

“In 2012, although police registered an FIR against Malik Riaz on the complaint of a resident of Bhara Kahu, no action was taken against him,” he said.

Another lawyer, Rizwan Abbasi, said he had filed a petition on behalf of his client Raja Zahid Mehmood, before the Islamabad High Court, against Malik Riaz for allegedly grabbing his 100 kanals of land as police were not registering a case against him.

According to news reports, in November, 2016, a local court had ordered the Nilor Police to register an FIR against Malik Riaz.

A resident of Mauza Tumair, located on the outskirts of Islamabad, said that on November 28, 2012 employees of Bahria Town had encroached upon 506 kanals of his land at the behest of Malik Riaz.

He said when he attempted to resist and retrieve the land, the property grabber threatened him with dire consequences and warned that he could be implicated in a fake case.

He said that almost all the FIRs registered so far against Malik Riaz and his accomplices were registered on the intervention of courts.

Haseeb Chaudhry Advocate said that he had seen may cases in which patwaris had changed the record and illegally transferred land in the name of Malik Riaz, depriving the ordinary people of their land.

“Currently, dozens of cases of land grabbing directly or indirectly against Bahria Town are under adjudication in trial courts, high courts and the apex court,” he said.

“Unfortunately, Malik Riaz hires the most expensive lawyers who play an important role in influencing the cases in trial courts,” he said.

He said dozens of cases of land grabbing and other heinous crimes were pending against Malik Riaz in various courts. He said almost in every case, the superior courts had to order lodging of FIR against him.

On October 27, 2009, a three-member Supreme Court of Pakistan bench, headed by the then chief justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, ordered Sihala Police to lodge an FIR and arrest Bahria Town chairman Malik Riaz for the murder of a security guard, Fiaz Ahmed, who was killed in 2008.

Seven people were arrested in the case, but were then released on bail. Malik Riaz was not arrested.

According to the statements of the people, whose land was acquired by Bahria Town, Malik Riaz had forced them to sell him their land on cheap rates. “Those who refuse are harassed with the help of police,” they said.

The court had directed Sihala Police to record the statement of Shamraizan Bibi, Ahmed’s widow, in the courtroom. In her statement, she said that Malik Riaz was responsible for the murder of her husband.

During the course of hearing, two citizens — Raja Qayyum and Habibullah –appeared before the court and maintained that they had been victimised by Malik Riaz, who had gotten them badly beaten through police as they were not selling their land to him.

They alleged that they were kept locked for three months to force them to sell their properties to the Bahria Town.

In 2009, an SC bench, headed by the then CJP, also ordered the district and sessions judge Islamabad to launch a judicial inquiry against Malik Riaz for his alleged land grabbing through coercive and blackmailing tactics and submit report to the apex court.

The Islamabad chief commissioner was directed to facilitate and cooperate with the district and sessions judge in this regard. Almost 100 persons recorded their statements against Malik Riaz, but police failed to take action against him.

Many people in the past tried to protect their properties from Malik Riaz’s land mafia, but mostly their struggle ended in their deaths. Later, families of the deceased were forced to reach compromises with Malik Riaz.

This situation has given rise to the perception that no one can stand against Malik Riaz.

Published in Daily Times, October 22^nd 2017.