Remarks Housing foundation cannot launch own housing scheme itself
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan Monday adjourned the hearing of a petition seeking repatriation of Dr Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani scientist jailed in the United States, for an indefinite period. A bench of the apex court, headed by Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed, issued directives for merging the petition with the cases of other Pakistani nationals languishing in foreign jails. Over the course of the hearing, a government lawyer informed the bench that a counselor meets Ms Siddiqui every three months. Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed asked the counsel to see whether Dr Aafia can complete her sentence in Pakistan after her repatriation from the US. It is noteworthy that Dr Aafia Siddiqui had written a letter to Prime Minister Imran Khan last year, seeking his assistance in ensuring her release from the US prison Pakistan’s consul general in Houston met Dr. Aafia at the prison where she handed him over the letter addressed to Mr. Khan. ‘I want to get out of the prison, as my imprisonment in the US jail is illegal,” she wrote in the letter. She said she always considered Imran Khan as one of her biggest heroes. ‘Mr Khan had supported me in the past also,” she added. Dr. Aafia also wrote that Imran Khan should be careful about ‘munafiq’ around him. Meanwhile, Supreme Court of Pakistan Monday remarked that land acquirement in Islamabad can be made under the Capital Development Authority (CDA) Act. The top court was hearing a case related to the Federal Government Employees Housing Foundation (FGEHF). The apex court observed that the housing foundation was not mentioned in Islamabad’s master plan. The court remarked that CDA regulations will be applied in societies established on its land. “Housing Foundation cannot launch its housing scheme itself,” the court remarked. It added that the housing foundation asked to provide plot to judiciary instead of the nationals. Justice Ijaz-ul-Ahsan remarked, “It does not become pure public property now. Right now, we are standing at its acquirement phase in the case and regulatory phase will come next to it.” The court observed that no land acquirement complaints existed in F-14 except for some development issues. The defence lawyer said that CDA was allotted 50 per cent commercial plots as compensation in F-14 of the housing project. The top court adjourned the hearing till Tuesday’s evening at 12:00 noon and asked the lawyer representing the housing foundation to complete arguments till today (Tuesday). Agencies