ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday constituted a high-level committee to review the issue involving One Constitution Avenue, a skyscraper in the federal capital that houses residential apartments, and also halted authorities from taking any action.
The development comes a day after the Islamabad High Court upheld the Capital Development Authority’s decision to cancel the building’s lease due to the company behind the project defaulting on payments. Late last night, reports had also emerged on social media of residents being served eviction notices by officials.
Apartments in the building are also reportedly owned by prominent personalities, including Imran Khan, Aitzaz Ahsan, Shandana Gulzar, former minister Burjees Tahir and former caretaker prime minister Nasirul Mulk.
According to Radio Pakistan, the committee formed by the premier will be headed by Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar and will include Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry, the cabinet secretary and the commerce secretary.
“The committee has been tasked with examining all aspects of the issue and submitting a comprehensive report to the prime minister within one week,” the report said.
“During this period, all affected individuals will be able to present their concerns before the committee, which will hear all parties and stakeholders without any discrimination,” it said.
“Until a final decision is taken by the prime minister, the Islamabad administration and the Capital Development Authority will refrain from taking any action in the matter,” it added.
“The prime minister has issued directives for the formation of this special committee to ensure that the requirements of justice are fully met in the One Constitution Avenue case,” the report concluded.
Meanwhile, earlier in the day, the residents of One Constitution Avenue had begun vacating their apartments on a voluntary basis amid a large police presence.
Residents were seen shifting their belongings on mini trucks as the building was under the control of the local administration and police. Police personnel were also seen roaming inside the building’s towers.
“From Constitution Avenue One to police station one,” said Nadeem Afzal Chan on X, along with a video showing heavy police presence at the building.
Late last night, social media was flooded with videos showing a large number of police personnel at the site. Reports circulating online said police had stormed the building past midnight and told residents to vacate it. Some also claimed that police had broken doors and locks in the building.
Nadeem Haque, the former vice chancellor of the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, said that he rented an apartment in the building and was “jolted awake by heavy banging on the door” at 1am.
According to him, armed police officers were at his door, appeared aggressive, showed no court orders or documents and gave no explanation.
Journalist Nusrat Javeed said, “Anyone still rushing to invest in Islamabad’s giant residential towers needs a reality check.”
Separately, Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry maintained that the company behind the building had repeatedly been given notices by the Capital Development Authority to vacate.
He said that with the recent action, the development authority had managed to establish “state writ against a company that has been evading accountability for the past 20 years”.
He said that the company, which had leased the building, had continued to occupy it illegally by “violating the terms of its lease, deceiving people and defaulting on payments”.
The minister said that the BNP group was awarded the lease for Rs4.8 billion for building a “five-star hotel and serviced apartments”. However, the company failed to pay that amount.
“They took a Rs3.5bn loan from the Bank of Punjab, but they fraudulently mortgaged the property, took money from the bank and paid the CDA,” he said. However, he added that the company defaulted on the bank loan, after which the case was sent to the National Accountability Bureau.
“When NAB summoned the company for defaulting on payments, they pleaded that they did not have the funds and offered to have their commercial shops and apartments taken away,” he said.
“But you were not the owner and were not supposed to build anything other than a commercial hotel or serviced apartments,” the minister pointed out.
Chaudhry said that the company had built “250 residential apartments in direct violation of the lease agreement”.
He added that the Capital Development Authority had cancelled the lease in 2016.