Whose booty is Islamabad?

Farhan Aftab

The Islamabad High Court has declared in a historic decision that the land of the state is not for the elite.

Let's see how the elites in Islamabad have treated the land of the state and if the federal cabinet dares to set any rules in the light of this court's decision, can anything change?

There is a Shifa hospital in Islamabad, which according to the documents of the National Assembly, was given two and a half acres of government land in the nineties for just one hundred rupees per square foot. It is the most expensive hospital in Islamabad. The situation is that two and a half acres Even after taking the land, there is no proper parking here. This hospital is located in an area where one marla of land would cost up to crores of rupees. The question is, if the same land was sold in the market and the amount earned from it. If it was applied to public hospitals, wouldn't the fate of polyclinics and PIMs change? Not only this, two or four more good hospitals could have been established in Islamabad with this money.

  In the neighborhood of the Prime Minister House and the Parliament is the Islamabad Club for the elite. The club owns 244 acres of government land. You will be shocked to know that this land was given to this club at a modest Rs.1 per acre per annum.
In 2018, this rate was revised and this amount was increased to 11 rupees. The alleged elite visit here in the evening and have fun. Till date, no one in the parliament has felt the need to tell the government that we are running around for loans in the five continents of the world, but there is no time to pay attention to our royal expenses, how we have white and white. Brutal elephants are kept.
Just imagine how much money this 244 acre land, located a few steps away from Serena Hotel, could bring to the national exchequer if given to someone at the market rate.
You see the wonders of bureaucracy. The property was taken free of charge from the government. The land is government land which is the trust of the nation. But the club built on the land was declared as a limited company. Later, on the order of the President of Pakistan, he was taken into government custody and now he is being looked after by the Ministry of Cadets. But this arrangement is only on paper. Read the Auditor General's report and you will not only come to your senses but also know what a state within a state is and how it can be run successfully even sitting next to the Prime Minister's House.
There is a security fee of 16 lakh rupees for non-government employees and others and those who are willing to pay that too are not given a form. Government officials become members for a nominal fee. This is an elite club and that too is commercial. The question is, why should state resources bear the burden of this elite? It neither cares about government regulation nor cares about papara rules. If the people buy a flat in a society or tower with their lifetime savings, it is demolished, but the law does not look at it when the elite is sitting on digesting the entire 244 acres.
Go ahead., next to the Islamabad club there is another club ahead. It's called the Guns Club. He has been given 72 acres of land on lease and when the Supreme Court issued a notice to the federal government a few years ago, it was found to be free. The government did not take even a single rupee from the club. Further revelations on this Supreme Court notice came when the CDA submitted a report on the court's order.
The report stated that the government of Pakistan has given 44 acres of land to a club, which was leased to the Pakistan Sports Board. The CDA also disclosed that it was ordered to give another 28 acres of land to the Guns Club without charging any rent.
  Along with the Islamabad Club, only 150 acres of land has been given to the Pakistan Golf Federation. You will be happy and pleased to know that this land is leased at just Rs 2.41 per sqft per annum.
  The recent decision of the Islamabad High Court is a milestone. In this decision, it has been stated that the scheme of allotment of plots for judges, bureaucrats and officers in special sectors of Islamabad is not only unconstitutional and illegal but it also harms the national exchequer. 10 billion has been damaged. Now, if such distribution of a few marls and canals can cause a loss of ten trillion to the national exchequer, imagine the loss to the national exchequer where acres upon acres have been leased out at a very nominal and nominal price. What will be the estimate?
  Not a single residential sector could be built in Islamabad at a reasonable price for the public. Ministries and elites have distributed it like booty. This is the society of the IB, that of the Senate, this is the society of the Ministry of Industry, that of the Presidency, this is the sector of the employees of the Supreme Court and that of the lawyers of the Supreme Court. It is a sector of the Ministry of Overseas, that of the Ministry of Commerce. It seems that Islamabad was conquered by them after fighting Genghis Khan and now it is their booty.
Bureaucrats who enjoy privileges all their lives finally grab a plot worth a few lakhs and after two years of retirement sell it for crores and drink tea in the sun of the Islamabad club with the profit and lead the nation on TV talk shows at night. How accountability should be done and what are the guiding principles to protect national resources from being wasted.
  Since this column was related to Islamabad, it did not dare to turn towards Lahore. If the residents of Lahore want, they should calculate for themselves whether this gymkhana club, which is established for the elite, was bought and allocated for them by one of the ancestors of the elite, or is it actually the land of the state. which has been handed over to the aristocracy so that the burden of their entertainment is also put on the semi-literate nation whose level of consciousness is still so low that one of the aristocracy rises up and steals one street and four gutters from the national treasury. If it is built, it fills the entire neighborhood with banners of blessed peace, just like the elite have sold the squares and factories of Aba Huzoor and built these streets and gutters for the poor subjects.