ISLAMABAD (Fakhar Durrani) — Who holds the legal right to the 312,440 acres that made up the former princely state of Bahawalpur’s royal hunting ground (Shikargah)? According to estimates by the Cholistan Development Authority (CDA), the land is worth Rs555 billion. The question is whether it belongs to the Punjab government, or to the 23 legal heirs of the late Amir and subsequent purchasers, whose claims stem from a government-supervised distribution process.
Punjab’s position is that the land was taken back under land reforms. At the center of the decades-old dispute is a single word, “Entire,” handwritten into a 2003 government order.
The state maintains the land is government property, while those asserting rights over it rely on later administrative decisions and records of transfers. The conflicting claims have raised questions about the land’s legal status, its division, and the validity of subsequent transfers.
This report draws on official records, including Punjab government and National Accountability Bureau (NAB) documents, administrative decisions and court proceedings. It also presents the position of the Nawab’s family, which challenges the government’s stance on the Shikargah’s legal status and on the legality of its resumption and later distribution.
The 2003 turning point
After land reforms proceedings, the Shikargah was treated as land the state had resumed. The dispute reached a decisive point in 2003, when a committee was formed to deal with the distribution of the former Nawab family’s properties and the word “Entire” was handwritten into a government order.
That addition made central the interpretation that the Shikargah too should be divided among the late Amir’s 23 legal heirs. It paved the way for disputed mutations, later land transfers and conflicting ownership claims.
The family’s position
Sahibzada Gazain Abbasi, grandson of the former Nawab of Bahawalpur, has challenged the government’s contention that the Shikargah was resumed during Nawab Sadiq Muhammad Khan’s lifetime. He argues that references to resumption in official correspondence did not in themselves amount to a legally valid order.
According to him, the land was declared unsettled and unsurveyed and was assigned “zero units” under land reforms. Abbasi also questioned the Punjab government’s jurisdiction and challenged the basis of the 1968 resumption order. He criticized NAB for investigating the matter without hearing the family’s side.
On paper and on the ground
In the paperwork, the Shikargah is still recorded as land resumed by the Punjab government. On the ground, however, large areas are held, or claimed as owned, by members of the former royal family and influential figures, including politicians, lawyers, retired military officers and bureaucrats.
Official records reviewed for this investigation show that the area held by or recorded in the names of individuals ranges from roughly 100 acres to 5,650 acres.
Following the committee’s proceedings, the CDA entered 95 mutations in the names of the Amir’s 23 legal heirs and later purchasers. The Senior Member, Board of Revenue Punjab, subsequently directed the CDA to cancel the disputed mutations, which the authority ultimately did. Occupants nonetheless continue to cite those records in court to support their claims.
According to local sources, some areas are effectively off-limits to the public, with armed guards posted at the dogs (farm compounds) of powerful occupants.
How the land is valued
Because the land remains disputed, neither the rates set by the deputy commissioner nor the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) valuation tables have been applied. Instead, the CDA has put the value at Rs555 billion and divided the land into four categories, including barren, cultivable and uncultivable land, as well as land near roads and other locations.
Independent local valuers put the current worth at over Rs600 billion. They say cultivable land prices fluctuate, while those of uncultivable land have remained largely stable in recent years, though land in the chak (settled) areas fetches higher prices. They believe the Shikargah’s value could double once the dispute is resolved and the land’s legal status is settled.
NAB steps in
Against this backdrop, NAB has begun examining the decades-old dispute. After approving an inquiry in July 2025 and converting it into a formal investigation in September of the same year, the matter is again under close scrutiny.
By reviewing historical official records, land reforms decisions, committee proceedings and court documents, NAB has tried to trace the chain of administrative decisions that produced the dispute. The bureau has also taken up the matter with the Punjab government with a view to corrective measures and recovery of the land.
A review of NAB records, CDA correspondence and court documents, along with interviews and visits by this reporter, indicates a long-running dispute over the Shikargah’s legal status and who controls it.
Local sources alleged that some influential people hold land through front men. However, the official records reviewed for this investigation could not independently verify those claims. The records list land entries against the names of individuals and groups, but the entries by themselves prove neither legal ownership nor unlawful acquisition.
Who is on the CDA’s list
The scale of the dispute is evident in CDA records, which list hundreds of individuals and groups against various parcels within the Shikargah. According to the CDA records reviewed, a list of about 300 people includes names said to be in occupation or possession of large tracts at present. Some of them, with the recorded acreage and blocks, are:
- Azmatullah Khan Niazi: 4,800 acres in blocks 59, 60, 78, 79, 80, 1, 21, 22, 41, 61, 20-19, 39 and 241.
- Malik Majeed Hussain and Malik Zaheer Hussain Bhatti: 5,650 acres in blocks 285, 286, 287, 307, 324, 325, 326, 349, 345, 346 and 304.
- Gen. (retd) Adnan Haider: 2,800 acres in blocks 11, 12, 29, 30, 31, 32, 70 and 71.
- Abbas Mandokhail and Nasir SBK: 2,000 acres in blocks 115, 116, 135, 88 and 89.
- Raja Amir Hussain and Raja Mazhar: 1,725 acres in blocks 149, 188, 169, 170, 366, 346 and 386.
- Chaudhry Bashárat Arain: 1,700 acres in blocks 246, 247, 266 and 267, and a further 1,150 acres in blocks 89, 90, 451 and 452.
- Muhammad Ilyas and Ejaz Mehdi: 1,675 acres in blocks 140, 161, 160, 180, 210, 211, 227 and 386.
- Col. Khubaib Ahmed: 1,500 acres in blocks 13, 33, 14, 34, 54, 71, 91, 72, 92, 53 and 14.
- MNA Syed Sami-ul-Haq Gillani and family: 1,250 acres in blocks 23, 24, 43, 62, 102 and 123.
- Syed Wajid Hussain Shah Bukhari, father of former federal minister Zulfi Bukhari: 1,200 acres in blocks 103, 104, 122, 144 and 181.
- Sarfraz Munshi: 1,200 acres in blocks 470, 471 and 472.
- Mian Tariq Waheed Ramday: 800 acres in blocks 168 and 148.
- Mian Shams-ur-Rehman: 800 acres in block 83.
- Brig. Abdullah Ranjha: 500 acres in blocks 25 and 26.
- Late Malik Iqbal Ahmed Chanar, father of Punjab Assembly Deputy Speaker Malik Zaheer Iqbal Chanar: 200 acres in block 2.
How the dispute began
The dispute traces back to Bahawalpur’s accession to Pakistan on October 3, 1947, and its merger into West Pakistan on December 17, 1954. The list of the late Amir’s personal properties, signed on May 8, 1955, included the Shikargah. It was defined as land lying 10 miles on either side of the road running from the last point of the colony to Qila Derawar, and within a 10-mile radius around the fort.
The Amir died on May 24, 1966. Official records show that during his lifetime he did not challenge decisions to resume land. On November 21, 1967, the Land Commission allowed his successor to retain 20,000 acres as a Shikargah under a separate lease or administrative arrangement, though that land too was subject to resumption by the government. The remainder was to be resumed, with compensation to be determined.
On May 6, 1968, the Deputy Land Commissioner issued an order resuming the remaining land. The dispute subsequently reached the courts.