Illegal allotment of forest land: SHC blasts NAB officer over allegations

KARACHI: Sindh High Court on Thursday prevented the NAB investigation officer to probe illegal allotment of forest land in Sindh, ARY News reported.

A bench of the high court headed by Chief Justice Ahmed Ali Shaikh heard the case. In his remarks about the National Accountability Bureau’s investigation officer Pir Khaleeq, chief justice said how could a person investigate others when he himself faces allegations.

The chief justice asked the NAB director whether the bureau could explain about its such steps? No one knows what is going on in NAB, the chief justice remarked.

Justice Shaikh asked case officer Pir Khaleeq what is a Chokri? The case officer dumbfounded even the director NAB present in the case hearing failed to answer the court’s question.

Chief Justice said that the NAB officers even don’t know about the basics.

It is pertinent to mention here that Chokri or Chokri number is a term used in the specific context of the forest land in Sindh.

During a case hearing the Supreme Court Chief Justice had expressed his displeasure after Sindh’s additional advocate general informed the court that at least 70,000 acres of forest land were illegally occupied in the province.

The court had issued an order on October 31 last year for illegally allotted land to be returned.

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah had told the Sindh Assembly in November last year that around 149,235 acres of the land have been illegally occupied by influential persons over the last five years in Sindh.

In Dadu, 27,566 acres of land and in Benazirabad 24,161 acres land occupied. While 23,715 acres in Sukkur, 19,271 acres in Hyderabad, 12,238 acres in Larkana, 17,477 acres in Khairpur and 7,879 acres in Kandhkot occupied, Sindh chief minister told the assembly session.