Supreme Court forms JIT in Pakpattan shrine case

The Supreme Court (SC) formed on Thursday a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) to initiate a probe in a case against deposed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif pertaining to illegally allotting land around Pakpattan shrine in 1985.

During the hearing headed by the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Saqib Nisar, Sharif's lawyer appeared before the court. The lawyer told the court that his client has relented on the constitution of a JIT.  The CJP constituted the team and appointed Mehr Khaliq Dad Lak, the Chairman of National Counterterrorism Authority, as the JIT head, local media reported.

On December 4, Sharif had said that the case was over 30 years old and recall anything nor find any records relating to the case. The CJP had suggested forming a JIT to which Sharif had expressed his uneasiness and said that his experience with JIT was not good

Sharif is accused of allotting 1,800 kanal land of Auqaf around Pakpattan shrine to Dewan Ghulam Qutab when he was the chief minister of Punjab in 1985. He allotted the land to Qutab by violating the high court orders.