Pakpattan shrine land case: New head appointed for JIT to probe Nawaz’s role

LAHORE: Chief Justice of Pakistan on Thursday appointed a new head for a joint investigation team formed to probe former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s role in a case related to transfer of land of the Pakpattan shrine in 1985.

Director-General National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA) Khaliq Dad Lak, who was appointed to lead the Supreme Court-mandated JIT, excused himself from the role citing personal reasons.

Following this, Justice Nisar has named Director-General Anti-Corruption Punjab Dr Hussain Asghar as the new head of the JIT, which is tasked to probe Nawaz's role in the transfer of the land.

The case pertains to the transfer of 14,000 kanals of land of the Pakpattan shrine to Dewan Ghulam Qutab in 1985. Nawaz was the then-chief minister of Punjab province when the land in question was transferred.

A three-judge bench headed by the chief justice had constituted the JIT during hearing of the suo motu case on December 13.

The JIT under the new leadership has been instructed to submit Terms of Reference within 10 days.