It is said that Pakistan is not a country with an army but an army with a country.
While armies all over the world own and operate large businesses, none come close to ours in the quest for large swathes of public land for commercial use.
Today, the Pakistan armed forces run at least 100 independent businesses including banks, petrol pumps, universities, cement plants, insurance companies, restaurants, and wedding halls. These businesses are operated under six foundations – Fauji Foundation, Army Welfare Trust, Shaheen Foundation, Bahria Foundation, Pakistan Ordinance Factory Board Foundation and most profitable of all, the Defence Housing Authorities (DHAs). All in all, the army runs a business empire worth a whopping $20 billion.
Most of the military’s commercial adventures have been based on encroached lands. Recently, the judiciary indicated that it will not let such encroachment go unchecked and has taken firm action in a number of cases, making daringly bold statements in the process. This is refreshing to see, not only because the army is – as it should – being considered equal before the law, but also because historically, land encroachment by the military has gone unaddressed and uncontrolled.
In 2017, former army chief General Raheel Sharif was awarded 90 acres of land in the Bedian Road area in Lahore. Military establishment explained this allocation as “nothing unusual”. However, the allotment and the secretive nature in which it was done indicated anything but that.
Border Area Committees across the country have record of all lands situated along the border. Land given to General Raheel was situated 5km from the border with India and thus fell within the jurisdiction of the Border Area Committee Lahore (BACL). Decision to allot the land was first made at GHQ and passed on to the Chairman BACL, retired Colonel Tabish Sajid, who ultimately passed on the order to the provincial board of revenue to make the allocation. Colonel Tabish refused to comment when the media asked him about the land allotment policy.
This entire episode reeked of suspicion. DG ISPR said the allotment was made in accordance with constitutional provisions without specifying which ones. Attempts to question it were deemed treasonous. In the end, General Raheel was awarded Rs1 billion worth of land for ‘agriculture’. To date, no one has explained why or how.
In a separate incident of encroachment in 2010, a battalion of Pakistan Army grabbed the 3500 acres’ worth of land in the coastal area of Karachi, including a centuries old cemetery. They claimed that the land had been gifted to them after the second World War, but were not able to produce any document evidencing the same. Fishermen were prevented from burying their loved ones in the graveyard which formed part of the encroached land, nor were they able to access their routes for fishing. No action was taken by the provincial government despite the fact that the actual land allotted in 1947 to the military – Malir Cantonment – was nowhere near the encroached land. No FIRs were registered and no action was taken in the courts on the pretext of national security. Once again, the military got away with their strong handed tactics.
Pakistan’s history is riddled with examples of land encroachments by the armed forces. Detailing all of them can be the subject of another article. But for now, it is worth mentioning that the judiciary has started to draw a firm line.
In April 2021, three petitions were filed in the Lahore High Court accusing DHA of illegally occupying around 40 to 50 acres of land. The petitions were filed by three citizens seeking orders against DHA not to encroach land that they had obtained on lease from the Evacuee Trust Property Board. During a hearing, CJ Muhammad Qasim Khan shockingly said that the Lahore High Court had itself been the subject of army’s land grab.
CJ Qasim Khan went on to say that the army has become the biggest land grabber in Pakistan. The uniform of the army is for service and not to rule as a king. CJ Khan remarked, “Is it only the army that makes sacrifices? Do other institutions like police, lawyers and judges not make sacrifices?”
This is an obvious reference to the fact that perks and amenities available to retiring army officers far exceed those of any other institutions. Army can afford to hand out such retirement plans because it has the means and resources to do so. Such resources as we now know are derived from the army’s vast network of commercial machinery, which dominantly includes the ever-profitable real estate business, based squarely on land encroachment.
In his 2020 judgement, Justice Qazi Faez Isa remarked that the laws governing the armed forces do not provide that they be given residential plots, commercial plots or agricultural land nor permits them to receive the same. Justice Isa remarked, “Nevertheless, senior members of the Armed Forces get plots and agricultural lands and continue to be given additional plots and agricultural lands as they rise up the rank.”
In the same instance, Justice Isa also recalled how General Ayub Khan approached the then army chief General Douglas Gracey with a request for a plot but was denied. Ironically, a British officer was more willing to preserve Pakistan’s soil.
Neither the constitution, nor the laws governing the armed forces nor the discretionary powers of the executive permit the giving of plots or land to the armed forces. Any attempts to do the same would be a grave misuse of their power. In addition, it would create an element of unfairness and inequality as such privileges are not enjoyed by the rest of the country. Obviously enough, these actions have been going on for a long time which has instilled in the armed forces a sense of entitlement. But recent actions by the courts will go a long way in promoting accountability. Three such decisions deserve special mention.
In December 2021, the Supreme Court ordered the military authorities to return the possession of Askari Park to the Karachi Metropolitan Authority. The park was given to the military in 2005 to develop the land as a park, but the authorities started using it for commercial purposes by constructing wedding halls and shops.
Addressing the army’s counsel, CJP Gulzar Ahmed said, “You have been asked to protect the whole of Pakistan. Were you given a park for commercial activities?... We send our children to the army for war. We do not send our children to the army to do business.”
In another similar decision, Islamabad High Court (IHC) on January 8, 2022 declared the Pakistan Navy’s sailing club and farmhouses constructed on the national park land illegal. In his judgement, IHC CJ Athar Minallah said that the armed forces can use their coercive powers very restrictively, as prescribed by the constitution and only to advance public interest. Using such powers to enforce its will on the people to advance its own commercial interests is certainly not covered by the constitutional mandate afforded to it.
“Engaging in such undertakings, on the one hand, compromises the professionalism, integrity, cohesion of the Armed Forces while on the other it weakens the civilian institutions and becomes a cause for distraction from the core function. It damages the relationship of the Armed Forces with the people and the society,” the verdict noted.
Three days after the aforementioned decision, on January 11, IHC rebuked Pakistan Air Force and ordered authorities to seal off Monal Restaurant and take control of Margalla Greens Golf Club. It also declared as illegal military’s claim to 8000 acres of land in Margalla Hills National Park. In his remarks, Justice Minallah said that the three wings of the armed forces must not be controversial by engaging in commercial activities as it is not in the public interest. He went on to say that continued land encroachment will dilute the public’s respect of the armed forces.
These judgments came in quick succession. Through them, the courts have sent a clear message. Land encroachment will no longer be tolerated and the judiciary will do what is necessary to remind the armed forces of its constitutional mandate to advance public interest. Such admonition of the all-powerful military goes a long way in restoring the faith of public in our judiciary.
Surely Pakistan military’s hunger for land is not recent, nor is it any secret. It found prominence even during the 2007 Lawyers’ Movement against General Pervez Musharraf’s decision to remove CJ Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, when protesters carried banners saying: “Ae watan ke sajeele Genrailo; saaray ruqbey tumhare liye hain” [O’ handsome Generals of the country, all plots of land are just for you].
Land encroachment by the military feeds into elite capture, class disparities, ethnic discrimination, and mass disenfranchisement. It is symbolic of the deep-rooted problems that continue to plague Pakistan and stifle meaningful growth. We must play our role and call it out.
While armies all over the world own and operate large businesses, none come close to ours in the quest for large swathes of public land for commercial use.
Today, the Pakistan armed forces run at least 100 independent businesses including banks, petrol pumps, universities, cement plants, insurance companies, restaurants, and wedding halls. These businesses are operated under six foundations – Fauji Foundation, Army Welfare Trust, Shaheen Foundation, Bahria Foundation, Pakistan Ordinance Factory Board Foundation and most profitable of all, the Defence Housing Authorities (DHAs). All in all, the army runs a business empire worth a whopping $20 billion.
Most of the military’s commercial adventures have been based on encroached lands. Recently, the judiciary indicated that it will not let such encroachment go unchecked and has taken firm action in a number of cases, making daringly bold statements in the process. This is refreshing to see, not only because the army is – as it should – being considered equal before the law, but also because historically, land encroachment by the military has gone unaddressed and uncontrolled.
In 2017, former army chief General Raheel Sharif was awarded 90 acres of land in the Bedian Road area in Lahore. Military establishment explained this allocation as “nothing unusual”. However, the allotment and the secretive nature in which it was done indicated anything but that.
Border Area Committees across the country have record of all lands situated along the border. Land given to General Raheel was situated 5km from the border with India and thus fell within the jurisdiction of the Border Area Committee Lahore (BACL). Decision to allot the land was first made at GHQ and passed on to the Chairman BACL, retired Colonel Tabish Sajid, who ultimately passed on the order to the provincial board of revenue to make the allocation. Colonel Tabish refused to comment when the media asked him about the land allotment policy.
This entire episode reeked of suspicion. DG ISPR said the allotment was made in accordance with constitutional provisions without specifying which ones. Attempts to question it were deemed treasonous. In the end, General Raheel was awarded Rs1 billion worth of land for ‘agriculture’. To date, no one has explained why or how.
In a separate incident of encroachment in 2010, a battalion of Pakistan Army grabbed the 3500 acres’ worth of land in the coastal area of Karachi, including a centuries old cemetery. They claimed that the land had been gifted to them after the second World War, but were not able to produce any document evidencing the same. Fishermen were prevented from burying their loved ones in the graveyard which formed part of the encroached land, nor were they able to access their routes for fishing. No action was taken by the provincial government despite the fact that the actual land allotted in 1947 to the military – Malir Cantonment – was nowhere near the encroached land. No FIRs were registered and no action was taken in the courts on the pretext of national security. Once again, the military got away with their strong handed tactics.
Pakistan’s history is riddled with examples of land encroachments by the armed forces. Detailing all of them can be the subject of another article. But for now, it is worth mentioning that the judiciary has started to draw a firm line.
In April 2021, three petitions were filed in the Lahore High Court accusing DHA of illegally occupying around 40 to 50 acres of land. The petitions were filed by three citizens seeking orders against DHA not to encroach land that they had obtained on lease from the Evacuee Trust Property Board. During a hearing, CJ Muhammad Qasim Khan shockingly said that the Lahore High Court had itself been the subject of army’s land grab.
CJ Qasim Khan went on to say that the army has become the biggest land grabber in Pakistan. The uniform of the army is for service and not to rule as a king. CJ Khan remarked, “Is it only the army that makes sacrifices? Do other institutions like police, lawyers and judges not make sacrifices?”
This is refreshing to see, not only because the army is – as it should – being considered equal before the law, but also because historically, land encroachment by the military has gone unaddressed and uncontrolled.
This is an obvious reference to the fact that perks and amenities available to retiring army officers far exceed those of any other institutions. Army can afford to hand out such retirement plans because it has the means and resources to do so. Such resources as we now know are derived from the army’s vast network of commercial machinery, which dominantly includes the ever-profitable real estate business, based squarely on land encroachment.
In his 2020 judgement, Justice Qazi Faez Isa remarked that the laws governing the armed forces do not provide that they be given residential plots, commercial plots or agricultural land nor permits them to receive the same. Justice Isa remarked, “Nevertheless, senior members of the Armed Forces get plots and agricultural lands and continue to be given additional plots and agricultural lands as they rise up the rank.”
In the same instance, Justice Isa also recalled how General Ayub Khan approached the then army chief General Douglas Gracey with a request for a plot but was denied. Ironically, a British officer was more willing to preserve Pakistan’s soil.
Neither the constitution, nor the laws governing the armed forces nor the discretionary powers of the executive permit the giving of plots or land to the armed forces. Any attempts to do the same would be a grave misuse of their power. In addition, it would create an element of unfairness and inequality as such privileges are not enjoyed by the rest of the country. Obviously enough, these actions have been going on for a long time which has instilled in the armed forces a sense of entitlement. But recent actions by the courts will go a long way in promoting accountability. Three such decisions deserve special mention.
In December 2021, the Supreme Court ordered the military authorities to return the possession of Askari Park to the Karachi Metropolitan Authority. The park was given to the military in 2005 to develop the land as a park, but the authorities started using it for commercial purposes by constructing wedding halls and shops.
Addressing the army’s counsel, CJP Gulzar Ahmed said, “You have been asked to protect the whole of Pakistan. Were you given a park for commercial activities?... We send our children to the army for war. We do not send our children to the army to do business.”
In another similar decision, Islamabad High Court (IHC) on January 8, 2022 declared the Pakistan Navy’s sailing club and farmhouses constructed on the national park land illegal. In his judgement, IHC CJ Athar Minallah said that the armed forces can use their coercive powers very restrictively, as prescribed by the constitution and only to advance public interest. Using such powers to enforce its will on the people to advance its own commercial interests is certainly not covered by the constitutional mandate afforded to it.
“Engaging in such undertakings, on the one hand, compromises the professionalism, integrity, cohesion of the Armed Forces while on the other it weakens the civilian institutions and becomes a cause for distraction from the core function. It damages the relationship of the Armed Forces with the people and the society,” the verdict noted.
Three days after the aforementioned decision, on January 11, IHC rebuked Pakistan Air Force and ordered authorities to seal off Monal Restaurant and take control of Margalla Greens Golf Club. It also declared as illegal military’s claim to 8000 acres of land in Margalla Hills National Park. In his remarks, Justice Minallah said that the three wings of the armed forces must not be controversial by engaging in commercial activities as it is not in the public interest. He went on to say that continued land encroachment will dilute the public’s respect of the armed forces.
These judgments came in quick succession. Through them, the courts have sent a clear message. Land encroachment will no longer be tolerated and the judiciary will do what is necessary to remind the armed forces of its constitutional mandate to advance public interest. Such admonition of the all-powerful military goes a long way in restoring the faith of public in our judiciary.
Surely Pakistan military’s hunger for land is not recent, nor is it any secret. It found prominence even during the 2007 Lawyers’ Movement against General Pervez Musharraf’s decision to remove CJ Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, when protesters carried banners saying: “Ae watan ke sajeele Genrailo; saaray ruqbey tumhare liye hain” [O’ handsome Generals of the country, all plots of land are just for you].
Land encroachment by the military feeds into elite capture, class disparities, ethnic discrimination, and mass disenfranchisement. It is symbolic of the deep-rooted problems that continue to plague Pakistan and stifle meaningful growth. We must play our role and call it out.