A view of the Sailing Club of the Pakistan Navy in Islamabad. (Image: The Dawn/Twitter)
The court said the naval action was “definitely not in the public interest” and was a “classic example of the non-existence of the rule of law”.
- News18.com
- Last Update:Jan 08, 2022, 4:02 pm IS
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The Islamabad High Court on Friday issued a direction to initiate criminal proceedings against former naval chief Zafar Mahmood Abbasi and other officials for illegally building a yachting club and farmhouse on the land of a national park, Pakistan news agency Dawn reported. . The court also ordered that the structures be completely demolished.
Islamabad High Court Chief Justice Athar Minallah asked the Capital Development Authority (CDA) to take over the farmhouses that were constructed. Justice Minallah noted that the Pakistani Navy has occupied land on the embankment of Lake Rawal which is also a protected national park area. The court observed that ‘the participation of naval forces in undertaking commercial or real estate ventures was certainly not in the public interest’.
“(Club building) shall not be regulated in any way to be illegally constructed in an ecologically sensitive area in contravention of the mandatory provisions,” the court order accessed by Dawn said. The judgment further said, “Indulging in such undertakings compromises on the one hand the professionalism, integrity, solidarity of the Armed Forces, while on the other it undermines the civil institutions.”
The court declared that the buildings constructed in the said area were illegal without valid authority and jurisdiction. It ordered the wildlife agency, Islamabad Wildlife Management Board, to restore the habitat in the area. It asked the Pakistani Navy to hand over the land to the Chhote Dam Organization and to cease its activities in the Rawal Lake. The court highlighted that the creation of PN Farm and PN Sailing Club was a ‘classical example of non-existence of the rule of law’.
The court said the actions of the Pakistani Navy gave rise to a conflict which is “unbearable in a society governed by the Constitution”. The court also criticized former naval chief Zafar Mahmood Abbasi, saying he violated his oath and violated his constitutional duties.
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