No justice after 35 years: Pak woman asks judge to send her 'back to India'
New Delhi, May 31: A woman from Bahawalnagar in Pakistan, whose case against land mafia over her five-marla house has been pending for over three decades, asked the Chief Justice of Lahore High Court on Tuesday to send her to India if she couldn't get justice despite the passage of 35 years, media reports said.
Syeda Shehnaz Bibi told The Express Tribune that she has asked the Chief Justice to send her back to India because her family had migrated to Pakistan at the time of Partition to live a better life as promised by its founders.
"If I cannot get my own house vacated from the hands of land mafia despite spending decades in courts, there is no point staying in this country if I cannot get justice here," she added, the report said.
According to Shehnaz, the land mafia had occupied 13 marlas vacated by a Hindu family which moved to India, and she took the issue to the chief settlement commissioner who had sought documents regarding the property from the respondents.
As per the documents, the land was illegally occupied and the commissioner cancelled the land deed registered in 1960 as the respondents had not paid the government to acquire the property.
Subsequently, Shehnaz had been allotted a five-marla piece of land by the commissioner after the payment of dues. But the transfer of five marlas in her name angered the accused party who took over her house in retaliation, Express Tribune reported.
During the hearing, Shehnaz urged the Chief Justice to move her case from Bahawalnagar to Lahore as she had been living in Sheikhupura on rent.
"I don't have money to eat meals twice a day, nor do I have the resources to afford a lawyer," she told the Chief Justice, adding, "I am fighting this case on my own."
Chief Justice Ameer Bhatti said the court will summon the other party to decide on the case. In response to her comments regarding sending her to India, Bhatti said he could not comment on her remarks as he was only concerned with her relevant case. However, he assured her of justice.