BAHAWALPUR, Pakistan: Pakistani Army Generals, including President Pervez Musharraf and his top colleagues, have found an innovative way to defend the land of their country — by grabbing it.
SA Tribune has got a list of over 100 armed forces men who allotted to themselves at least 400 or more acres of prime land in Bahawalpur, heart of Punjab, “to defend it from the enemy,” at the throw away rate of Rs 380 per acre (US Dollars Six & 50 cents). The list is only of one District. Such lists exist all over Punjab and Sindh where a new breed of landlords has already been created through similar allotments.
These fertile lands were given to the serving and retired generals on the pretext that these army generals will “prove a front line against the invading army.”
The centuries old British colonial law to settle locals near enemy border was invoked by these army men to grab the lands. But instead of taking lands close to the border, they took away prime heartland acres, thousands of them, in the name of defending the country.
The price they paid was Rs 380 an acre was notional but many of them sold the land making millions. Others have become feudal lords in their own right by employing landless peasant to till these land and produce key crops.
This list has been prepared with the help of land revenue record of the district of Bahawalpur by local activists of Nationalist Qaumi Movement, a group fighting for the rights of the local people.
This conversion of generals into landlords also explains why no serious effort has been made by the military to introduce land reforms in the country, which could cure many political and social imbalances in the Pakistani society.
The list includes the names and the area (Chak) where the land (400 acres or more) is located. Some of these officers may have been promoted to higher ranks or even retired from service:
- General Pervez Musharraf, Current President, Village (Moza) Nouabad Yazman, Bahawalpur;
- General Zubair, Chak DB/14;
- General Moinuddin Haider, Current Interior Minister, DB/43;
- General Aziz, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, BC/16;
- General Iqbal, BC/16;
- General Saroop, BC/17;
- General Javed, DB/61;
- General Irashad Moin;
- General Zarar Niazi, DB/64;
- General Zulifkar Ali (Current Wapda chief) 54/P;
- Lt General Saleem Haider 54/p;
- Lt General Mohammad Akram 94/9;
- Lt. General Mohammad Naeem;
- Lt General Mohammad Afzal Janjua 54/P;
- Lt General Amin Burki( 96/p);
- Lt General Khalid Maqbool (Current Governor Punjab) 54/P;
- Lt General Irshad Hussain;
- Lt General Mushtaq Hussain 54/P;
- Lt Gen Tariq Pervez (brother of Nawaz Sharif’s cabinet minister Nadir Pervez);
- Admiral Mansoorul Haq, former Chief of Naval Staff, DB/113;
- Air Marshal Imtiaz Haider, DB/114;
- Major General Malik Mohammad Salim, 1L/101;
- Major General Amjad Shoaib 1L/127;
- Major General Jehangir Nasrullah, 95/P;
- Major General Waqar ul Haq, 55/P;
- Major General Mahboub Muzaffar, 56/P;
- Major General Khurshid Alam, A101/107;
- Major General Agha Jhangir Ali Khan, 1L/120;
- Major General Jamshed Iyaz Khan, 126/1L;
- Major General Tahir Ali Qurshi, 93/P;
- Major General Muzaffar Usmani (Later promoted to Lt General and retired recently by Gen. Musharraf), 93/P;
- Major General Sultan Habib, 93/P;
- Major General Abdul Razzak, 250/P;
- Major General Mohamamd Mushtaq, 54/P;
- Major General Mohammad Raza, 54/P;
- Major General Rafiullah, (former IB Chief);
- Major General Zafar Mehdi;
- Brig Mohammad Sarfraz, 55/P;
- Brig Mohammad Jamil Qudrat Warsi, IL/104;
- Brig Mumtaz, IL/104;
- Brig Rasheed, Chak 126;
- Brig Ali Akbar, 54/P;
- Brig Gull Alam Khan 46/P;
- Brig Mohammad Bashir Baz, Chak 256;
- Brig Saeed Abdul Khaliq, IL/129;
- Brig Ashraf Khan Afridi, 49/P
- Brig Ghazanfar Azam, Chak 105;
- Brig Javed Malick, Chak 46/P
- Brig Ghulam Abbas, Chak 46/P,
- Brig Iftikar, Chak 46/P
- Brig Shahid Naeem, Chak 46/P
- Brig Ziaullah, IL/119;
- Brig Saddik Khan, 54/P;
- Brig Masoud Bashir; 54/P
- Brig Pervez Akhtar son of Saleem Khan; 54/P
- Colonel Shaukat Hayat, IL/123;
- Colonel Safdar Hussain, 250/P;
- Colonel Mohammed Tariq Khan, 256/P ;
- Colonel Bahadur Nawaz, 256/P
- Lt Colonel Ahmad Yar Khan, 44/46;
- Lt Colonel Abdur Rahim Khan, 93/P;
- Lt Colonel Arshad Pervez Khan, 93/P
In addition to these officers, 50 hawaldars, naib clerks; clerks, naiks, honorary captains; subedars; subedar majors have also been allotted lands in the vicinity of Bahawalpur and Cholistan.
August 2, 2022
Source: http://satribune.com/archives/Aug17_23_02/P1_landgrabbing.htm (archives)
Editor