Lahore High Court Chief Justice Muhammad Qasim Khan on Wednesday grilled the police for starting grabbing land instead of arresting robbers, thieves and other criminals.
“It has become a police state,” he remarked. Hearing a case related to Evacuee Trust Property Board’s land, the LHC chief justice observed that the police had unleashed a reign of terror. “You cannot secure roads; you cannot arrest offenders; you cannot even capture proclaimed offenders [but] the police officers are now grabbing plots,” he remarked and added that they didn’t even spare the state land. In what capacity the Evacuee Trust Property Board land was occupied,” the chief justice questioned, as Punjab IGP Inam Ghani also attended the hearing. “The police are now constructing their offices on people’s land.” Ordering the Punjab IGP to register a case against the police officers responsible for the land grabbing, the chief justice remarked that the land in question belonged to the Evacuee Trust Property Board. “The federal government cannot distribute the trust property,” warned the chief justice who also wondered how an elite school occupied the state land.
