The Lahore High Court on Monday restrained the Defence Housing Authority (DHA) from selling the seized properties of former chief of army staff Gen (r) Ziauddin Butt and directed it to submit a reply to his petition by January 27.
Gen (r) Butt was appointed army chief by then president Rafiq Tarar in October 1999 in place of Gen (r) Pervez Musharraf, but he was removed when Gen (r) Musharraf seized power in a coup.
He has filed a petition for the release of his post-retirement benefits, for his ouster by Gen (r) Musharraf to be declared illegal, and for a stay order stopping the sale of his confiscated properties in the DHA.
On Monday, a deputy attorney general told the court that the case had been assigned to him a day before and he had not sought instructions from the federal government as yet. He sought more time to submit the government’s reply to the petition.
Justice Ijazul Ahsan adjourned the hearing till January 27 and ordered the DHA to maintain the status quo on the petitioner’s seized properties.
Gen (r) Butt said he had been put in solitary confinement following the coup by Gen (r) Musharraf on October 12, 1999. He was dismissed from service, his properties were seized, and his pension was stopped.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 10th, 2013.