Pakistan’s Supreme Court has taken a tough stance against the business activities of the powerful military and sought assurance from the government to ensure that the armed forces focus only on defense related matters and not business. The assurance was sought by Pakistan CJP Qazi Faiz Isa who is heading a three-judge bench investigating the use of military land for commercial purposes.
Pakistan’s Supreme Court has taken a tough stance against the business activities of the powerful military and sought assurance from the government to ensure that the armed forces focus only on defense related matters and not business. The assurance was sought by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faiz Isa, who is heading a three-judge bench investigating the use of military land for commercial purposes.
The apex court stressed that all institutions of the country should remain within their constitutional limits, Dawn newspaper reported on Thursday. The case was initiated by former CJP Gulzar Ahmed in 2021 when the court’s attention was drawn to the alleged illegal use of Cantonment Board land in Karachi. This land was acquired for strategic purposes, but it was used for commercial gains.
Justice Isa on Wednesday regretted that the Army has set up ‘marriage halls’ on military land. He sought assurance from Pakistan’s Attorney General Mansoor Usman Awan that the army would not indulge in doing business. Justice Isa asked Usman, “Can you give this assurance?” He also said that every institution should work within its limits.
The Attorney General acknowledged that in theory everyone should do their own thing. During the hearing, the counsel for the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) told the court that the building over which the dispute took place belonged to the board. The lawyer said that the person to whom this land was allotted sold it on fake documents after which a five-storey building was built on the land.
Justice Mohammad Ali Mazhar expressed surprise and asked whether the ETPB remained a mute spectator when the building was being constructed. The Chief Justice said that this would not have been possible without the involvement of the ‘Sindh Building Control Authority’.
