Daily Times

A four-member National Accountability Bureau (NAB) team on Tuesday probed ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif regarding the Pakpattan land allotment case.

According to a private source, a four-member team questioned the PML-N supremo in a separate room in Kot Lakhpat jail where he has been serving a seven-year prison term in Al-Azizia reference.

“The documents are 34-years-old. I do not remember anything,” replied Nawaz.

The probe team asked him if he gave an advertisement in the newspaper regarding the allotment. “On what grounds was the land allotted and which officers issued the orders for the allotment,” asked the NAB team.

The former prime minister reiterated that he did not remember as the case was decades old.

“I had fulfilled all the legal requirements but I do not remember the details. I had worked under the parameters of the law and the Constitution and never misused my authority. I have always served the country,” said Nawaz.

He told the team that he couldn’t remember much since it was an old case from the past when he was the chief minister of Punjab.

After Partition, Dewan Ghulam Qutab and his family used to be the ‘owners’ of the shrine’s land as per the revenue record from 1947 to 1958.

The family sold pieces of the land to different people until Jan 1, 1970, when the Punjab government notified the Auqaf Department as the rightful owner of the land and Dewans the custodian of the shrine. Later Dewans moved the Lahore High Court but the case was decided against them.

In 1986, the government withdrew its 1970 notification and Dewans reciprocated by withdrawing their appeal before the Lahore High Court against the decision.

With this, the Dewans resumed their land selling business and the revenue department issued ownership rights (fard) to all buyers.

In the meantime, a 1981 case regarding 17 marlas land filed in a civil court reached the Supreme Court by 2015.