21 lawyers booked under ATA over alleged bid to occupy AC office land in Bahawalnagar

BAHAWALNAGAR: Police in Minchinabad have registered a case against 21 lawyers under the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) over allegations that they tried to take possession of land belonging to the assistant commissioner’s office, damaged state property and assaulted revenue staff.

According to the first information report lodged at Minchinabad police station on the complaint of Patwari Muhammad Tariq, the incident took place on Wednesday evening when 21 lawyers, along with private individuals and machinery, allegedly attempted to occupy the land of the AC office after cutting down trees at the site.

The FIR named six lawyers — Ijaz Gujjar, Shahzad Bhatti, Ahmed Raza, Hafiz Zahid, Wasim Wattoo and Hassan Raza — while around 15 others were listed as unidentified. It said that when the area patwari and members of the revenue team tried to stop the alleged occupation attempt, they were attacked with sticks and bricks.

The complaint stated that junior clerks Muhammad Amir, Umar Farooq and Khizr Hayat sustained serious injuries and were shifted to hospital for treatment. It sought legal action under sections 440, 506B, 324, 511, 447, 148 and 149 of the Pakistan Penal Code, along with the ATA, over allegations of assaulting revenue officials, issuing threats, cutting government trees, damaging public property and attempting to occupy government land.

Police subsequently registered the case under sections 148, 149, 324, 440, 447, 506B and 511 of the PPC and also added section 7 of the ATA. An investigation has been launched.

Dispute over proposed women bar room

The case emerged amid a dispute over land next to the Minchinabad AC office. According to revenue officials cited in the report, the AC office is located beside the civil court and is surrounded by lawyers’ chambers, while no wall separates the court premises from the AC office.

Revenue officials claimed that lawyers had already built chambers on more than eight kanals out of the revenue department’s 17-kanal area where the AC office is situated. They said the lawyers were now seeking to establish a women bar room on a vacant plot adjoining the AC office, but the assistant commissioner had declined to allow construction there, leading to the confrontation.

Several videos circulating on social media reportedly show lawyers arguing with and misbehaving toward revenue officials, including the Minchinabad assistant commissioner, inside the office premises. Other clips show groups of lawyers chanting slogans against the AC outside his office on Thursday afternoon.

Officials and unions react

A letter attributed to the All Pakistan Clerk Association and Minchinabad Anjuman Patwarian was also circulating on social media, condemning what it described as an attack by lawyers on the revenue team. The letter said some lawyers were trying to occupy revenue land in violation of the law.

It further alleged that photographs and video footage showed that the incident took place in the presence of judges and that some lawyers were involved in rioting, cutting trees and breaking electric wires. The two unions called for legal action against those involved.

Speaking to Dawn, Assistant Commissioner Atiq Khan said the land earmarked in Board of Revenue records for the Minchinabad AC complex measured about 17 kanals. He said the AC office building stood on a 10-marla plot and the revenue department’s offices occupied roughly the same area, while civil court lawyers had, according to him, already built chambers on around eight kanals of the land.

He stated that for the past few days, the lawyers had demanded constructing a women bar room on the complex’s remaining vacant space, and that they had been instructed to follow the prescribed constitutional procedure for the bar room’s construction and obtain permission from the Board of Revenue.

According to the assistant commissioner, the lawyers started construction at the site without authorisation a day earlier. He alleged that when officials tried to stop them, they tortured and misbehaved with him, as well as with Pera and revenue officials, and said the incident was visible in videos that later went viral.

Ati q Khan further said that despite the registration of the case, the lawyers were continuing to harass and misbehave with him and remained insistent on building not only a bar room on the complex land but also lawyers’ chambers, similar to what he described as chambers their seniors had ‘illegally’ built on revenue property.

When contacted, Minchinabad Bar President Saeed Ahmad said he would issue a statement later.