K-P land scam: Peshawar high court petitioned to cancel lease

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti had cancelled the allotment of 170 acres of land worth Rs5 billion following news of the scam. PHOTO: FILE

ISLAMABAD:?A legal battle has started between the federal and the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government in the scam involving the lease of 170 acres of land which was originally marked to the Pakistan Oilseed Development Board (PODB).

The Peshawar High Court is taking up a petition filed by the PODB, a department of the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock, on Wednesday (today), requesting the cancellation of the allotment in the name of Javed Iqbal of Rawalpindi. The court has further been petitioned to direct the K-P government to hand over the land back to the PODB.

The agriculture ministry moved the Peshawar High Court to reclaim ownership of its olive research station established in 1998 on 170 acres with the help of technology and support from Turkey and Italy.

PODB has hired advocate Mohammad Asif to fight the case. The K-P government had already cancelled the land allotment in the name of Javed Iqbal after the scam was published in The Express Tribune last week. However, K-P Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain has said that the multi-billion-rupee olive research station will be auctioned.

The developed olive research farm was secretly leased out by the K-P government on December 3, to one Javed Iqbal, said to be a front man of a top Awami National Party leader, in the name of a bogus construction company of Rawalpindi for twenty years. Police was used to forcibly get the land vacated.

The National Accountability Bureau has already launched an investigation into the Rs5 billion land scam.

The Rawalpindi address given in the lease documents by Javed Iqbal turned out to be fake which further deepened the mystery as to who was actually behind this crime.

In its petition, the PODB has informed the court that it was given the land by Auqaf on lease in 1998.

The land at the time of possession was barren and rain-fed. PODB spent millions of rupees to develop it.

The petition pleaded that the land was given to the PODB with the clear understanding that its lease would be extended.

PODB has now asked the court to direct Auqaf department to extend its lease.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 22^nd, 2010.

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School bus targeted in Peshawar

School bus on Kohat Road targeted in blast.

PESHAWAR:?A blast?occurred?near a school bus in Bhana Mari area of Peshawar on Monday, killing two and injuring one child.

Express 24/7 correspondent Iftikhar Firdous reports the bus, carrying students of the ‘Sir Syed Islamia Model school’, was targeted in the Bhana Mari area on Kohat road, injuring several people. Most of the children had been dropped off to their homes when the blast took place. Initial reports had indicated that two children had been killed as a result of the blast, however latest reports indicate that the children were injured.

According to witnesses on the scene, firing ensued in the area after the blast. All roads leading into Peshawar have been blocked and security forces have blocked movement into the city.

Rescue operations are underway and heavy traffic is causing difficulties in recovering the injured. The injured are being shifted to Lady Reading Hospital, and emergency has been declared in all hospitals. Peshawar Police have arrested two suspects from the site.

Bhana Mari is located on Kohat Road, where militant?activity such as the targeting of girl schools has taken place in the past.

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3 Dead in Peshawar, Mosque explosion

PESHAWAR: an explosion occurred in the veranda of a mosque in the area of the Peshawar Pistakhara Friday right after prayers Juma.

Three people were killed and at least 11 were injured in the explosion has occurred by a device planted, which contained 1,5-2 kg of explosives.

According to 24/7 Express Iftikhar Firdous correspondent, the number of deaths could have been much higher if the explosion took place inside the mosque.

Wounded have been displaced to complex medical Hayat hospital Lady, reading while the police had surrounded the site of the explosion.

It has similar attacks recently in the same area, which is close to the Khyber Agency.

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