Former minister, five others acquitted in illegal land allotment case.

PESHAWAR -- A Peshawar High Court bench has acquitted former provincial minister Syed Murid Kazim and five revenue officers and set aside their conviction by an accountability court in a case of alleged illegal transfer of government land in Dera Ismail Khan to Naval Families Rehabilitation Organisation (NFRO).

The bench of PHC Chief Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth and Justice Abdul Shakoor accepted appeals filed by Murid Kazim, former district revenue officers of DI Khan Qayyum Nawaz and Riaz Mohammad, an assistant at Board of Revenue Gul Hassan, tehsildar Abdur Rasheed and patwari Mulazim Hussain.

The bench ruled that the prosecution could not prove its case against the appellants. The bench also set aside disqualification of the appellants from holding any public office.

As the land in question had already been returned to the government and no financial loss was incurred, therefore, while convicting the appellants the trial court had not imposed any fine and only awarded nominal prison terms.

PHC sets aside their conviction by accountability court

Murid Kazim was arrested by National Accountability Bureau on August 3, 2015, and was released on bail by the high court on September 22, 2015. He spent 51 days in detention.

The sentences awarded to the petitioners included 51 days each to Murid Kazim and Riaz Mohammad, 54 days each to Mulazim Hussain and Abdur Rasheed, 194 days to Gul Hassan and 195 days to Qayyum Nawaz.

Advocates Shabir Hussain Gigyani and Abdur Rehman Khan appeared for appellants and stated that in 2010, NFRO requested the provincial revenue department to replace around 1976 kanals of land of Navy, earlier allotted to it, as the allotted land was in riverbed and non-cultivatable.

They contended that the said land was replaced with 1976 kanals of land...