LAHORE: Chief Minister Usman Buzdar has accused former premier Nawaz Sharif of illegally allotting thousands of plots worth billions in Lahore to his party MPs and favourites, even violating his discretionary quota as provincial chief executive back in late 1980s.

His claims were based on a detailed report presented to him by Punjab Anti-Corruption Establishment Director-General Gohar Nafees.

Buzdar addressed a press conference at the chief minister secretariat on Thursday, where a presentation was also shared with the media over: “Plot politics of PML-N: A Case of Nepotism & Political Patronage”.

A serving and a retired Lahore Development Authority officials, however, refuted CM’s assertions.

LDA officials dispute CM’s claim

The chief minister alleged that Mr Sharif had promoted a health department malaria control programme clerk Qamaruz Zaman Khan and eventually posted him as Lahore Development Authority (LDA) DG and got all illegal allotments of plots executed during his rule as Punjab chief minister during 1985-90.

“The plots were actually meant for the families of Shuhada, widows, orphans, ulema, sportsmen and journalists.”

Mr Buzdar said Mr Sharif as chief minister had also violated his 10 per cent discretionary quota and allotted 1,352 plots in complete violation of criteria.

Among others, the plots were allotted to Senator Subedar Mandokhel, MNAs Bakhtar Munir Khan and Anwarul Haq; and MPAs Raja Ashfaq Sarwar, Khalid Javed Virk, Mian Abdul Khaliq, Sardar Abdul Rasheed Dogar, Umer Hayat Chaudhry, Nazir Ahmad, Sahibzada Khizar Hayat, Mahmoodul Hassan, Akhtar Ali and Ghulam Muhammad.

As many as 646 plots were allotted in Johar Town, 260 in Sabzazar, 191 in Tajpura, 108 in Gujjarpura, 37 in Allama Iqbal Town, 32 in Model Town, 31 in Faisal Town and five in Gulberg.

He said Nawaz Sharif, after becoming prime minister, appointed Qamaruz Zaman Khan as PM’s political secretary in BS-20 and also posted him as chief minister’s political secretary during his next term as prime minister.

The chief minister said the ACE had been instructed to take action against all illegal allotments and asserted that the present PTI government wanted implementation of rule of law.

Adviser to Prime Minister on Accountability and Interior Shahzad Akbar said all these illegal allotments of plots reflected the introduction of Changa Manga politics.

He claimed that Nawaz Sharif had allotted over 2,000 plots and inquiries were pushed under the carpet for years. He said former provincial minister Raja Ashfaq Sarwar was allotted 14 plots. He said this government showed courage and brought all illegal activities before the public.

Stating that the PTI government would now go for the recovery of plots and fines, Mr Akbar said a legal action would be taken against former premier Nawaz Sharif and the then LDA officials. He said recoveries would also be made from those who had got the plots allotted.

“The Sharif family established its political empire while using public resources and did not spend a single penny from their personal pocket,” he said.

Answering a question about former LWMC chairman Amjad Ali Noon’s letter alleging that industries minister Aslam Iqbal was involved in Rs1.25 billion corruption in the company, the chief minister said he had issued instructions to investigate the allegations and said inquiry findings would be shared with the media.

LDA: The officials said the allotments were made by the then chief minister on reserved prices under his discretionary powers for being chief executive officer of the province.

“At that time, not only the CM of Punjab but also of Sindh, Balochistan and the then Sarhad (now KP), had certain discretionary powers being chief executives. These plots were not allotted free of cost as the allottees paid per marla reserved price as assessed by the committees under the rules,” a senior LDA official told Dawn.

“Moreover, the then CM was also supposed to be head/chairman of the LDA’s governing body under the law,” he added.

He said in late 80s, various plots allocated for schools and hospitals in Johar Town and other schemes were also allotted to various non-profit organisations on reserved price.

“One of the chunks of land was also allotted for the construction of Shaukat Khanum Hospital on reserved price,” he added.

He said a number of inquiries in the past had failed to point out any illegality in the allotment process.

Another official said the then LDA DG, Qamaruz Zaman, was not a clerk at the time of his posting in LDA, as claimed by the government.

“Actually he was initially recruited as a clerk in the health department. Later, with the laps of time, he got promotions on the basis of hard work and finally attained Grade 18. The then government sent him to LDA on deputation under the law and appointed him as DG,” he explained.

PML-N: Reacting to Usman Buzdar and Shahzad Akbar’s presser, PML-N Punjab spokesperson Azma Bukhari stated that Shahzad Akbar himself was a clerk but was trying to conduct media trial of Pakistan’s largest political party.

Calling Shahzad Akbar as a crony of Imran Khan, who also served former president Gen Musharraf as his crony, Ms Bukhari said Akbar should reply to Justice Faiz Esa’s questions instead of holding accountability of Nawaz Sharif and Shehbaz Sharif.

“The Sharif family has already explained the financial affairs of its three generations but Imran Khan is still unable to explain the sewing machines of Aleema Khan and that how he built the Banigala empire,” Ms Bukhari responded

(Khalid Husnain also contributed to this report)

Published in Dawn, March 19th, 2021