Government Accused of Auctioning Evacuee Properties

Muttahida Qaumi Movement- Pakistan (MQM-P) has accused Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government of illegally auctioning evacuee properties worth Rs 50 billion at extremely low bid prices.

However, the federal government maintains that the evacuee properties occupied illegally will be auctioned as there were no claimants to them.

The Standing Committee of National Assembly (NA) on Cabinet Secretariat also expressed dissatisfaction with the decision of the federal government and demanded that abandoned properties worth Rs 50 billion should be given to the victims of the 1971 war.

MQM’s MNA Osama Qadri, who is also a member of the committee, told News360 that the people of erstwhile West Pakistan had left behind properties in Karachi and Islamabad worth billions of rupees when the war of 1971 broke out.

However, he added that the government had set the auction price of the properties to be around Rs 6 billion.

MNA Osama said that those who preferred to stay in Pakistan over Bangladesh or migrated to West Pakistan at the time of war deserved the properties.

The lawmaker told the NA Standing Committee on Cabinet Secretariat banned the sale of evacuee properties but despite this, the government’s decision to auction them violated the sanctity of the committee.

He added that the governments had no authority to sell properties as per the APO Act in either of the separated countries.

Osama Qadri noted that the chairperson of the standing committee Kishwar Zehra had clearly stated that auctioning of evacuee properties was not acceptable.

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The committee unanimously decided not to disintegrate Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB).

Instead of auctioning the properties, they should be awarded to victims of the 1971 war who had opted for Pakistani citizenship after the fall of Dhaka, it added.

Meanwhile, the NA’s panel has decided to take up the matter with the Cabinet Committee that oversees the institutional reforms process as well.

The chairperson of the NA committee and some members will attend the meeting of the cabinet committee.

State Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Mohammad Khan told News360 that the government would not violate the constitution on the issue of evacuee properties.

He questioned if the people occupied such properties for decades and built bungalows and shopping centers over them, doesn’t the government have the right to recover and auction them?

Ali Muhammad Khan said that the revenue generated from the auction will be expended on the welfare of the people.

He asserted that the NA Standing Committee on Cabinet Secretariat that on the matter, the government would not resort to any illegal measure in auctioning of evacuee properties.

The minister added that if an owner or claimant of the abandoned property exists, he would get his right.