Disposal of precious land by ETPB: Bhatti's murder ends ministry's resistance

The assassination of Minorities Affairs Minister Shahbaz Bhatti has brought an end to the ministry's prolonged resistance to the disposal of valuable land owned by the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) to different housing societies. A two-year long tussle between the assassinated federal minister and ETPB Chairman, Syed Asif Hashmi, had deepened with the latter's refusal to resign from his post.
Well-informed sources revealed that a 1982 Cabinet notification declared all the matters relating to abandoned properties after partition were classified and could not be publicly discussed. In this background, the ETPB Chairman refused to submit any details on the sale or maintenance of abandoned properties worth billions of rupees to the relevant ministry.
Sources maintained that the relationship between the ministry and the ETPB further deteriorated when sale of a Gurdwara land to a housing society was reported to the ministry of minorities affairs. The FTPB clarified that neither the land of any Gurdwara was given for development nor was it sold; in turn the Chairman launched an attack against the federal minister for minorities, accusing him of blackmail.
The ministry for minorities affairs had launched a campaign, based on prejudice, for the last one year against him, he alleged. As a result of this confrontation, the budget for fiscal year 2009-10 was not released and the chairman was asked to resign from his post.
In February 2011, protest against the ETPB Chairman was launched. The ETPB Chairman accused Shahbaz Bhatti of backing the protest for his removal from the post. Meanwhile, the Auditor General of Pakistan raised various audit objections on ETBP affairs and it came under discussion of National Assembly's Public Accounts Committee.