Authorities sealed the Lal Haveli residence of detained Awami Muslim League Chairman Sheikh Rashid — also a PTI ally — in Rawalpindi on Thursday, with an official present at the site telling the media that the building’s registry had been cancelled after proceedings.
“Chairman sahib decided [to take control of the building] after proceedings over the registry [submitted by Rashid],” Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) Rawalpindi Deputy Administrator Asif Khan told reporters, clarifying that the registry was not fake.
In his order, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com, the ETPB chairman said: “I hereby declare property no. D-156, D-157 and D-158 (units of Lal Haveli) situated in Bohr Bazar, Rawalpindi city, district Rawalpindi, as evacuee trust properties under the Evacuee Trust Properties (Management and Disposal) Act, 1975.”
He directed the ETPB deputy administrator in Rawalpindi to “take over the management and control” of the property and seal it.
The order was issued on a reference filed by Khan for the declaration of D-156, D-157 and D-158 as evacuee trust properties.
An appeal could be filed against the decision with the relevant federal secretary and high court, Khan said, adding, “The haveli has been completely sealed.”
With police personnel standing in the background, the official said an operation was conducted to seal the building and no resistance was faced during the process.
The row over the property’s ownership surfaced in January when the ETPB claimed that the ownership documents of one of Lal Haveli’s eight units were fake.
In the record books, the property was owned by the trust, a Dawn report said at the time.
It quoted an unidentified senior official as saying: “Previously, we were of the view that the registry of a 3.5-marla unit (out of the eight) as claimed by Rashid may be genuine. But when we probed into it, it was revealed that the legal owner of unit No D-158 is the ETPB. This is the same property against which Sheikh Rashid’s brother moved an application in 1995 with the ETPB for renting it out to him under the law.
“The registry is in the name of Rashid’s brother. We have asked the revenue department to provide further detail.”
He said the remaining seven units of the compound were earlier being used by some tenants until 2006. But, after Rashid became a minister in 2006, he allegedly claimed possession of all of them forcibly by threatening and kicking out the tenants. The official further said the applications of the former minister’s brother regarding the allotment of unit No D-158 on rent were rejected several times.
“It is very clear in the ETPB laws that the trust property can neither be sold nor transferred to anyone,” he said.
However, Rashid rejected the ETPB’s claims, saying the dispute was only limited to the trust property measuring 100 square feet on which a kitchen was built.
He further said he owned only four marlas of Lal Haveli and had declared it in his income tax return in 1968.
More to follow