Afghan bank seeks ownership of Peshawar market

PESHAWAR (Pajhwok): The Peshawar High Court (PHC) has been urged to review a decision on the ownership of a market in the capital of northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

The building was purchased by the Afghan government in 1946, an official of Da Afghanistan Bank told reporters at the Peshawar Press Clubon Monday

In 2014, Safiullah Kajori recalled said, the court had handed down a judgment on the ownership of the Afghan National Market in favour of Syed Zawar Hussain Abidi.

Also present on the occasion, lawyer Syed Shakeel Khan Gilani said he had filed an appeal in the PHC on behalf of the Afghan government to reconsider its previous verdict.

He claimed the court had been provided fake documents regarding the market’s ownership. Da Afghanistan Bank was shown as a private entity, though it was one of the official banks.

The Afghan government has also approached the Board of Revenue (BoR) to relook at the documents provided by Abidi, who had claimed the property was allocated to his family after the partition of India.

Meanwhile, the Afghan Consulate in Peshawar has written a letter to the PHC chief justice, saying the visa branch of the consulate had been functioning in the same market.

The court was also informed the Afghan government had long been paying property tax to the government of Pakistan, the letter added.

The Afghan government has also appealed to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to probe the matter.

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