ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan government has demolished at least five lower judiciary courts that were found to be illegally constructed on private land in the federal capital, Islamabad, a government official said. 
Last week, the Islamabad High Court raised the matter of “illegal encroachments” by courts with the Supreme Court through a ‘confidential’ letter, directing the Capital Development Authority (CDA) to demolish the constructions illegally built on a private citizen’s land. 
Citing a letter of the district and sessions judge, the registrar of the Islamabad High Court had said “some courts were illegally constructed on a plot owned by a private citizen.”
Subsequently, CDA was directed to take action and remove the illegal encroachments, the IHC said. 
On Wednesday, a spokesperson for CDA told Arab News the illegal constructions had been demolished. 
“We have cleared the area as per directions of the court; the structures are demolished,” CDA spokesperson Syed Asif Raza Shah said, declining to provide further details of the case as it was still being heard in court.
The Supreme Court is hearing a case against encroachments by Islamabad’s lawyers in the upmarket F-8 sector and a nearby football ground. Last month, the government razed dozens of lawyers’ chambers illegally built in a parking lot, unleashing violent protests by lawyers. 
Last week, the Islamabad High Court directed the CDA to “conduct an inquiry regarding construction of courts on a plot owned by a private citizen and submit a report within seven days.” Arab News has a copy of the letter.
“All illegal chambers must be demolished,” Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed said. “If someone wants to practice, then that person can open their office somewhere else.”
Mome Saleem, executive director at the Institute of Urbanism and a founder of the Reclaiming Green Islamabad campaign, said CDA did not have a land use policy which led to encroachments and land grabbing in the federal capital. 
“Islamabad administration should focus on strengthening land laws to protect private citizens’ prized land from the mafia,” she told Arab News, adding that the local administration had failed in effective urban planning, which resulted in land grabbing by powerful and influential groups, including lawyers. “The government should allocate a designated piece of land for the courts and lawyers in Islamabad to get rid of the encroachments in the commercial centers.”
In a separate letter to the interior secretary and CDA chairman, the IHC registrar has said the executive was responsible for providing an appropriate place for the establishment of the courts.
The letter said: “The Capital Development Authority and the local administration appear to have been complacent to the construction of illegal courts on encroached land. The Capital Development Authority has already been directed to take action and remove the illegally constructed courts in order to uphold the rule of law.”
According to the letter, IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah has ordered that “urgent steps be taken to provide suitable buildings for establishing the courts, having regard to the litigants’ right of meaningful access to the courts and justice at their doorstep.”