LHC stays conversion of Dar’s house into shelter home

The Lahore High Court has issued a stay order against the turning of former finance minister Ishaq Dar’s Lahore house into a shelter home by the Punjab Governemnt.

Hearing a plea from Tabassum Ishaq Dar, wife of the former minister, Justice Shahid Bilal Hasan on Monday also directed the provincial government to submit a response within 10 days.

The decision to turn Dar’s residence into a shelter home is illegal as the Islamabad High Court had already issued a stay order against auction of the same, the court said.

IHC had on Jan 29 issued a stay order against the auction of Dar's Lahore property and scheduled the next hearing of the case for Feb 13.

In her petition, Tabassum Dar argued that the house cannot be auctioned off as it belonged to her. The house was given to her by Ishaq Dar as haq meher, she claimed.

Dar's take

Earlir on Sunday, Ishaq Dar criticised the government’s decision to convert his residence into a shelter home. In a tweet he said the action had taken at the behest of Prime Minister Imran Khan Niazi was illegal.

The former minister said he had been living in that house since 1988. He said he received a lot of condemnation messages from people through social media and he was thankful to all of them.

“This action reminds me of the actions taken by the dictator against Nawaz Sharif in the past. General Pervez Musharraf had occupied Nawaz Sharif’s 180-H, Model Town residence the same way,” he said.

Dar said he had challenged (through his wife) the decision to convert his house into a shelter home in the Lahore High Court on Saturday and this case was likely to be heard on Monday.

Moreover, he said, he would file a contempt of court petition against the government as the Islamabad High Court had stayed the auction of his house on January 27.

Also, he alleged that his family’s belongings were stolen from his house and he would get an FIR registered against the Punjab administration, Chief Minister Usman Buzdar and Prime Minister Imran Khan. He said a part of his house where he had kept some sacred things was also desecrated.

Shelter home

The Punjab government on Friday converted Dar’s Lahore residence into a shelter home. Model Town Assistant Commissioner Zeshaan Ranjha led the operation before the Social Welfare Department installed a hoarding at the building in the Gulberg area. Four kanal and 17 marla house has a worth of Rs170 million.

Acting upon the directives of the National Accountability Bureau, the Lahore Development Authority took Ishaq Dar’s house into custody on July 26, 2019.