By Aslam Shah
KARACHI: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Karachi has launched a sweeping investigation into alleged tampering of land records involving more than 1,000 acres across Gulshan-e-Iqbal and seven adjoining dehs.
In an unusual move, NAB set up a temporary investigation office on the first floor of the COD Filter Plant, where Water Corporation officials confirmed a room had been allocated for the inquiry. The investigation is being led by Deputy Director Mirza Aleem Baig, who assumed charge this week.
According to NAB sources, officials from the Sindh Board of Revenue—including several former senior members, multiple secretaries of land utilization, and more than a dozen revenue officers posted in District East—are suspected of manipulating, altering, or replacing official land entries to facilitate the illegal allotment of prime public land worth billions of rupees.
Particular scrutiny is being given to Deh OKEWARI, where entries in Naklass 230, 235, 237, and 238 were allegedly modified to allow the allotment of nearly 1,000 acres. The inquiry is reported to be re-examining land records in Deh OKEWARI, Songal, Safura, Bhatti Amri, Dozan, Gujro, and Thoming, with the mukhtiarkar, patwari, and tapedar present. Officers found involved in altering the Record of Rights are expected to face criminal proceedings.
A major focus of the investigation relates to 163 acres claimed as part of the COD Filter Plant, which was reportedly allotted to the Water Corporation before the creation of Pakistan. The foundation stone of the plant was laid by former Field Marshal Ayub Khan, but original land documents are missing from the corporation’s files. NAB suspects deliberate record alterations enabled influential members of the Gabol clan to secure allotments in 1993, prompting a formal complaint to NAB in 2025.
The investigation covers land under Sohrab Goth Town, Safura Town, Gulshan-e-Iqbal Town, and Jinnah Town. NAB will also verify records in Abbas Town, Gulzar-e-Hijri, Sachal Goth, Azhar Garden, Jinnah Square, Pehlwan Goth, Gulistan-e-Johar, Safari Park, Essa Nagri, Hussain Square, Jamali Colony, Zia-ul-Haq Colony, New Dhabeji, Metroville-III, Shanti Nagar, National Stadium, and surrounding areas.
Sources noted that Naklass land in the Dolmia belt and COD premises has faced repeated encroachments, often supported by forged ownership documents. Earlier inspections by NAB at the COD complex revealed 14 bungalows, known locally as the “Tennis Court houses,” built on Water Corporation land and subsequently sealed. One bungalow was later unsealed after influential occupants claimed they needed access, and it remains under occupation.
Retired officials of the Karachi Water & Sewerage Corporation (KWSC) disclosed that high-value properties originally designated for pipelines, pumping stations, channels, and water treatment facilities had been illegally sold or captured by land mafias, allegedly with official complicity. Over the past seven years, multiple plots have been encroached, with at least 13 executive engineers suspected of facilitating these land grabs. More than 25 acres at COD have been converted into private homes, land near the National Stadium has been handed to builders, and portions of KDA housing and Scheme-33 have been diverted from their original purpose.
Despite repeated directives from former and current chief executives, the GIS department, established nearly 20 years ago to digitally map KWSC properties, has failed to produce a comprehensive inventory of the utility’s land holdings. Sources say a private consultancy has now been hired to help reconstruct missing records.
The COD Filter Plant spans 100 acres, of which nearly two acres are under illegal occupation, 38 acres house plant structures, and 60 acres remain vacant. The most lucrative parcels include land at Deh OKEWARI under Greater Karachi Scheme-1—comprising LS-R (16.2 acres), HS-R (21.35 acres), COD (95.607 acres), and the Pipe Factory (35 acres)—totaling 185 acres. Only a fraction appears in the Record of Rights, raising further suspicions of tampering. Corporation officers’ and employees’ cooperative societies’ lands have also faced severe encroachments.
Officials disclosed that even the Water Corporation’s head office land at Karsaz was transferred from KMC on incomplete paperwork, and original title documents remain untraced. NAB’s investigation is expected to expand further as additional anomalies surface in Karachi’s sprawling network of water utility lands, a sector long plagued by encroachments, forged allotments, and systemic administrative neglect.
