Shehbaz, Maryam told to file response in land grabbing case

LAHORE: A civil court on Thursday directed Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) president Shehbaz Sharif and vice-president Maryam Nawaz to submit their reply in a case against them for allegedly encroaching upon 4,000 acres of land in Jati Umra.

Senior Civil Judge Fozia Saira was hearing a lawsuit filed by Punjab University Professor Dr Abdul Rauf.

The counsel for the Sharif family members appeared in court and sought time to submit their response. Granting his request, the court gave the lawyer until September 12 to file comments.

The litigant alleged that the Sharif family had encroached upon his forefathers’ thousands of acres of land in Jati Umra which they had purchased from the then government from 1911 to 1912. The actual owner of the land in question, Pir Buksh, is still alive, he said.

Abdul Rauf claimed that he had documentary evidence that can be made part of the court’s proceedings and pleaded with the judge to issue directives for removal of encroachment from the land.

He further demanded that the Sharif family pay a sum of Rs50 billion as financial damages he suffered because of the illegal occupation of the land.