'Supreme Court among illegal buildings in Zone-III of Islamabad', lawyer tells CJP

ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar on Tuesday observed that the first house to be regularised in Islamabad’s Banigala locality will be of Prime Minister Imran Khan. 

Headed by the chief justice a bench of the apex court was hearing a suo motu case pertaining to illegal encroachments in Banigala.

Justice Nisar asked the prime minister’s lawyer Babar Awan to tell his client that he should first pay the fine to get his Banigala residence regularised.

“If his [PM] house is not regularised, then he should be the first one to pay the fine,” the CJP remarked, and added it would be inappropriate to demolish the un-regularised buildings in the neighbourhood.

Advocate Ayesha Hamid, who represented the local residents, claimed that all constructions in Zone-III, including the Supreme Court building, are illegal.

At this, CJP Nisar snapped, “Do you want us to pull down both Supreme Court and the Parliament House?”

A federal law officer explained that only the One Constitution Avenue falls within the Zone-III, not the Supreme Court building.

He said a 12 kilometer-long wall will be erected around Banigala locality, out of which 4 kilometer-wall has already been constructed, while another portion of the wall would be completed by November this year and the rest would be completed after release of the required funds.

The CJP had taken a notice of encroachments in Banigala on the request of Imran Khan in May, 2017.