Overseas Pakistani's land occupied after ownership papers forged

By
Murtaza Ali Shah
|
Overseas Pakistanis land occupied after ownership papers forged
  • British Pakistani family lodges complaint that two land dept officials occupied their land after forging signatures.
  • Anti-Corruption Lahore confirms record of land registry was tampered with.
  • Complaint says officials conspired with three influential men.


LONDON: A British Pakistani family has lodged a complaint to the Overseas Pakistanis Commission Punjab that two officials of the land department in Rawalpindi conspired with three influential men to fraudulently occupy their land after forging signatures.

The Overseas Pakistanis Commission Punjab has confirmed it has received a complaint from Hamzah Afzal, of Edgbaston in Birmingham, and his father Nisar Afzal, of the fraud on their lands in Rawalpindi District’s Rajar Tehsil after officials of the land record of Revenue Estate conspired to forge the land record and transfer it to three men with powerful connections.

The complainants have also filed an application before the director-general of Anti-Corruption Lahore (Punjab), naming Almas Abbasi s/o Mohammad Aslam; Haq Nawaz Abbasi s/o Kudadad Khan; and Raja Shahid S/o Raja Bashir as beneficiaries of the embezzlement in connivance with each other and with officials of the land record.

Anti-Corruption Lahore has confirmed, according to a forensic report seen by The News, that it investigated the complaint and established that the record of the land registry was tampered with, signatures forged and additional pages added to the original land record.

A report by the Lahore Anti-Corruption sent to the director-general Anti-Corruption, seen by The News, confirms that an investigation was started on November 17, 2021. It says the accused patwari is “already in judicial lock up in another case” and that “record of alleged mutations was minutely checked”. 

It confirmed that mutation of the land was not compared/verified by Girdawar which is a pre-requisite under the law and that “names of Almas, Haq Nawaz & Raja Shahid seems to be inserted subsequently” and “this mutation has not been entered in Roznamcha Waqiati”.

The application from Hamza Afzal to Overseas Punjab Commission says: “Upon the application filed by my father before the Anti-Corruption an inquiry was conducted. The authority gave the opportunity to both sides to prove their stance. The accused persons filed a writ before the Lahore High Court, Rawalpindi Bench, which was subsequently disposed off with direction to complete inquiry on merit. The Authority sent the documents/land record in question for forensic and the stance of the complainant was proved to be right that a forgery was committed.”

The complaint reads: “The Authority registered a criminal case vide FIR 13/22 dated 18-05-2022 against the nominated accused persons and Naib Tehsildar and Patwari of concerned Revenue Estate at that time U/S 420, 468, 471,409, of PPC and 5(2) of PCA 1947. During the inquiry which was conducted by Anti-Corruption Lahore, the complainant revealed that the alleged accused persons are habitual fraudsters and they are involved in many such types of criminal cases. The accused Almas Abbasi was a driver by profession in the Government Transport Service (GTS); the accused Haq Nawaz Abbasi was a General Secretary of Pakistan Muslim League (N) and holds a public office at the time of committing a fraud as a Nazim of the Union Council; and Raja Shahid runs a bus-stop in Faizabad, Islamabad.”

The complaint said: “The accused persons also grabbed the petrol station of the complainants by taking advantage of his absence from Pakistan. During the inquiry, it was further revealed that the accused persons have a criminal record in the twin cities (Islamabad-Rawalpindi). It came on the record that alleged accused persons are part and parcel of groups of grabbers and mafias having the backing of political parties. It came to the record that another FIR No. 13/18 dated 19-05-2018 was also registered against the accused persons by the same complainant in the Police Station of Federal Capital Margalla. The said application was filed by the complainant and entertained by the ADCR (Islamabad) and after the detailed inquiry conducted by the ADCR, he ordered for Registration of a criminal case against them. Moreover, many such types of criminal and civil cases were pending before the Honorable courts. The complainant and an overseas Pakistani filed 13 suits against the accused persons in civil court of Gujar Khan which was decreed in favour of overseas Pakistani Nisar Ahmed Afzal against the alleged accused persons.”

In their complaint to the vice-chairman, Overseas Pakistanis Commission Punjab, the complainants have requested the government of Pakistan to take necessary measures to ensure justice for the overseas family.

Nisar Afzal lives in Islamabad but his son Hamza Afzal has informed the Overseas Pakistanis Commission Punjab that he has come to the UK after facing death threats from the accused. He has written in the complaint: “I have come to the UK to avoid being attacked. We have heard that you have always stood up for overseas Pakistanis and we need your help in this matter.”

Raja Shahid didn’t reply to questions sent to him but Almas Abbasi and Haq Nawaz denied being involved in the forgery scheme. They said they had brought the land from another overseas Pakistani and had papers to show their rightful ownership of partners. They confirmed they are on pre-arrest bail in the case.

They blamed the Anti-Corruption Department Rawalpindi for coming under the influence and registering the fraud FIR. Both of them said they had joined the investigation happily but regretted the inquiry was conducted against them without consideration of full facts against them.

Last year, Britain’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) dropped a mortgage fraud case after failing to establish enough evidence to prosecute him. Nisar Afzal had left for Pakistan around 15 years ago after the case was charged. He had pleaded that he was being victimised in a case in which he had no role to play. The SFO, later on, accepted it didn’t have evidence and ended the case last year.