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Pervaiz government leased land to ex-generals: LPP
Labour Party Pakistan (LPP) Press Statement - December 15, 2008
By our correspondent in Lahore – Labour Party Pakistan and Renala Khurd tenants on Sunday alleged that the Pervaiz Ellahi government in the Punjab leased 2, 250 acres of land to retired military officers including six generals – former president Pervez Musharraf’s comrades – in violation of a Supreme Court ruling.
Accompanied by Farooq Tariq of Labour Party Pakistan (LPP), the tenants of villages No 20, 22, 23 and 24-ILR of Renala Khurd addressed a press conference at the Lahore Press Club where they produced documents stating that the Punjab government cleared the 10-year lease in June 2007 under the Colonization of Government Lands (Punjab) Act 1912 for animal breeding purposes.
The tenants stated that the PML government violated a decision of the Supreme Court of Pakistan issued on December 18, 2003 which ruled that a government – federal or provincial – could not allot land to its officials. LPP’s Farooq produced the lease deeds at the press conference, stating that the then Punjab government granted 600 acres land to Lt Gen (retd) Javed Alam Khan, NAB’s ex-chairman Lt Gen (retd) Shahid Aziz, ex-Corps Commander Gujranwala Khalid Munir Khan, Fauji Foundation’s ex-chairman Lt Gen (retd) Syed Arif Hussain and two other retired army officials for breeding 24 mares. Incidentally, all these generals were trusted lieutenants of former president Gen Pervez Musharraf (retd).
When contacted, circles close to the retired generals rejected the allegation, saying that the retired generals’ integrity was beyond question and the lease was legal by all standards. They reiterated that the generals had not committed anything illegal.
The tenants contended that the leased-out land had been barren since 1957 due to salinity. However, they added, that they started cultivating the land when it became cultivable after a long spell of 1999 drought in the country. They said that while they were earning their livelihood by cultivating this land, the Pervez Ellahi government handed the lands out to retired generals.
They alleged that that the retired army officers sent their men twice to occupy these but the tenants foiled their attempts. They appealed to Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif to nullify the lease agreements and allot these lands to local tenants.
Farooq Tariq
Spokesperson Labour Party
Pakistan
40-Abbot Road Lahore, Pakistan
Tel: 92 42 6315162 Fax:
92 42 6271149 Mobile: 92 300 8411945
labour_party@yahoo.com www.laborpakistan.org
www.jeddojuhd.com
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