ISLAMABAD: The court of the senior special magistrate of the Capital Development Authority (CDA) has issued warrants for the arrest of two local Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) leaders for their alleged involvement in environmental destruction.

Senior Special Magistrate Sardar Mohammad Asif has issued arrest warrants for Ilyas Mehrban and Ikhlaq Mehrban and directed the relevant station house officer (SHO) to arrest them and present them before his court on Oct 28.

An official of the CDA’s environment wing said the arrest warrants were issued on Thursday, adding that the said politicians were accused of setting up two unauthorised housing societies, Mehrban Town and Royal Avenue Society in Chatta Bakhtawar area and destroying the environment during construction.

The official said they were issued notices, but they did not turn up, therefore the matter was referred to the court.

Meanwhile, the official said the arrest warrant of Raja Hanif Abbasi, a close relative of PTI’s former MNA Sadaqat Abbasi, has also been issued by the said court.

He said Raja Hanif was accused of excavating CDA land (1,280,000 square feet) to get mud, which he used in filling ditches in his uneven farmhouse located in Margalla Town.

The official said both cases were old cases as the CDA’s environment wing had fined the said persons many years ago, but they did not comply. Later, the cases were referred to the court.

The court, last year, had sent the then chief executive (CE) of Ghauri Town to jail for three years for environmental destruction. It had also imposed a fine of Rs1.5 billion on the chief of Ghauri Town, Chaudhry Usman, and directed the society’s management to carry out tree plantation in the capital city worth Rs1 billion from the society’s account in lieu of damage done to the environment. Later, Mr Usman was granted bail from court.

Published in Dawn, October 17th, 2022