How a land dispute turned into a fake-degree campaign

ISLAMABAD: A property dispute in Mansehra has escalated to the national level in the form of a campaign against fake degrees of lawyers, dragging top names into the ring right in the middle of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) elections. Capt (retd) Safdar, husband of Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz, is the lead campaigner, having vowed to purge the legal fraternity of "fakesters".

But behind this campaign lies his five-year-old tussle with former Supreme Court judge Ejaz Afzal Khan. The two have locked horns over a jointly held (mushtarka khaata) property in Dara village, Mansehra. Mohammad Ishaque, Safdar's father, bought a 10-kanal tract (out of a 164-kanal holding) in 1997 and gifted it to his son two years later.

By Safdar's account, this piece of land has been in his family's possession for the last 25 years. A major portion of the adjacent land, 85 kanals, is owned by Justice Ejaz's family, whose members allege that Safdar took over the valuable front portion of the jointly held property and the adjoining shamilat (communal land).

The legal battle began in April 2021, when a petition filed in the Peshawar High Court accused Safdar and his brothers of entering the joint land with armed companions, bulldozing it and building a boundary wall. The co-owners, Justice Ejaz's family, said they had reported the matter to police without result.

A counter-allegation came from Safdar's elder brother, then-MNA Sajjad Awan, who claimed that guards employed by Justice Ejaz, his son and his brother opened fire while the boundary wall was being raised. Police declined to register an FIR, prompting Awan to raise the matter before the National Assembly's Standing Committee on Law.

When police eventually registered the FIR on the committee's order, the Mansehra District Bar Association intervened, passing a resolution demanding it be quashed. Strike in district court was also held. The Peshawar High Court stayed action against the judge's family.

A separate case was filed by the judge's family in district court over alleged illegal possession by the Safdar family. During one court appearance, a scuffle broke out between supporters of both sides, with allegations traded on the spot. To-date, no final decree on title or possession has been issued.

Syed Amjad Ali Shah, presidential candidate of the Independent Group in the SCBA election, is from the same area and is considered close to Justice Ejaz; he is seen as having played a role in the judge's battle against the Safdar family.

Amjad says Safdar once approached him to be hired as his lawyer, an offer he declined because he did not want to be drawn into the dispute. Safdar, for his part, says he never met Amjad.

Questions over Amjad's own law degree were first raised in 2022, when other lawyers challenged it before the Peshawar High Court as he contested for Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) membership, also seeking his de-notification as a PBC member. Records produced before the court at the time indicated he had passed his LLB examination from the Punjab University.

The degree issue has resurfaced now that Amjad is contesting for the SCBA's top post. Previously, his challengers were rival candidates for PBC membership; this time, Safdar has taken up the campaign himself, launching it on September 23. Safdar says the degree case has since moved from the Peshawar High Court to the constitutional bench.

Because Law Minister Azam Nazir Tarar also belongs to the Independent Group, he has attempted to broker a settlement; several jirgas have been convened, including one through the National Assembly speaker and another through Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, but Safdar has remained unmoved. He says he will not back down, alleging that his father was also insulted by members of the district bar acting on the other side's instigation. He has demanded that Amjad be replaced as a candidate.

Ahsan Bhoon, another senior figure in the Independent Group and a strong backer of Amjad, has also been drawn into Safdar's widening list of fake degree allegations. Safdar has referenced a lawyer who filed a case against him questioning his LLB degree and was separately implicated in an anti-terrorism case.

Bhoon, who sits on the judicial commission, and Tarar, as law minister, together wield considerable influence over the bench and bar.

Bhoon has denied the allegations and served Safdar a defamation notice seeking Rs5 billion in damages. According to the notice, Bhoon's LLB degree, obtained from the Punjab University in 1989, was marked "verified" by the controller of examinations in January this year during a Pakistan Bar Council scrutiny process.

Originally published in The News