A Land Without Owners: Pakistan’s Property Crisis and the Rule of Law

Writer: Amna Hassan

Recovery of state land of the value of Rs433 billion by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and the Board of Revenue in the province of Punjab occurred in June 2026. Prior to that, in the province of Balochistan, government land exceeding one million acres in size, valued at Rs1.37 trillion, was recovered in one of the largest land recoveries ever in the country’s history. These are mind-boggling numbers. They are indicative of billions in terms of recovered resources. However, there is another point of view.

Land disputes are not a marginal problem in Pakistan. They are the lifeblood of the nation’s malfunctioning. Litigation relating to land comprises 60 to 70 percent of the total civil litigation cases. These cases drag on for decades, sometimes for generations. The economic implications are beyond measure – and they are borne by the most impoverished citizens.

Occupation: An Epidemic

Land occupation in Pakistan cannot be attributed to petty crimes. Land occupation is institutionalized and systematic, and sometimes even backed by the state. Land occupation in an illegal manner has been committed against the Railway authorities by various government and defense departments, which occupy 3,991 acres of Railway land in the country, including 2,539 acres in Punjab, 764 acres in Sindh, 349 acres in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and 347 acres in Baluchistan. NAB received more than Rs40 billion in references for fraud and occupation from Pakistan Railways. The state acts both as victim and culprit when it comes to land grabbing.

Similarly, private land gangs do not shy away either. In Karachi, NAB registered a reference for the alleged illegal conversion of 17,672 acres of government land in Malir District, worth Rs 708 billion. In the Sindh province itself, the estimated value of encroached land is trillions of rupees, according to NAB. The criminal activities of land grabbers and officials have “badly undermined the rule of law”.

Human tolls are equally dire. Women who are widowed, senior citizens, and people living outside of Pakistan are especially at risk. Approximately 40 percent of Pakistani expatriates have faced issues related to their property, with illegal occupation being the most prevalent one. As many as 36 cases of illegal occupation of the widow’s property have been resolved by the District Dispute Resolution Committee.

The Courtroom Graveyard

If illegal occupation is the problem, then the judiciary is the bottleneck. The Pakistani courts are overwhelmed by cases of land disputes. The Supreme Court has stated time and again that “unconvincing reasons for administrative delays have been found to be a recurring trend.” There are litigations amounting to Rs298.48 billion before courts, mostly concerning the Mangla Dam lands.

To remedy this situation, the National Judicial Policy Making Committee recommended timelines in August 2025, which were 24 months for declaratory suits of land disputes, 12 months for inheritances, and six months for injunction suits. These may sound impressive on paper, but they are impractical in nature. In Pakistan, land disputes take decades to resolve, if at all.

The Punjab Government took the radical step of making this Ordinance. In October 2025, the Punjab Protection of Ownership of Immovable Property Ordinance 2025 came into being. This Ordinance was meant to put a stop to any land-grabbing activities as well as to settle property disputes in a period of 90 days. Though the intention was a good one and the motive behind this Ordinance was to serve quick justice to those who were victims of any kind of encroachments, there were some problems with its execution. Under this Ordinance, the committees headed by the deputy commissioners were granted the status of courts without any right of appeal against their decisions.

The Economic Bleeding

The economic impacts of this crisis are immense. In Jamshoro, a multi-billion-rupee land scam with thousands of acres of prime state land being converted illegally has been brought to light. At Port Qasim, the allocation of 500 acres of land in an alleged scam led to the loss of Rs60 billion in the national exchequer. The land registration ban in just one district costs the government millions of rupees in transfer fee loss.

This crisis has also ignited social unrest in the region. In Gilgit Baltistan, people have protested against the takeover of their lands without proper compensation for the dam and CPEC construction. In Kurram District, the land disputes have resulted in the death of over 130 individuals in 2023 alone.

What must be done

These three policy changes can help disrupt the vicious circle:

1. Complete digitization of land records. The land record system in Pakistan continues to suffer from forgery and manipulation. A secure, tamper-free digital record database open to all citizens will do away with forged documents and fraud. Balochistan has achieved the ultimate phase of digitization. The other provinces need to catch up.
2. Specialized land courts. The 90-day period trial was not a success because it did not allow due process. But there is no doubt that speed is needed. Land courts manned by competent judges with specified deadlines and clear provisions on appeals must be established in Pakistan.
3. Strict penalties for land grabbing. While the Punjab province ordinance suggested five to ten years of imprisonment for illegal appropriation of land, this policy needs to be made into nationwide legislation and strictly enforced.

There are three changes in policy that would disrupt this cycle.

The problem of land in Pakistan does not have to be. It comes from an inefficient bureaucracy, from corruption in government, and a slow judicial system. The hundreds of millions being returned through NAB are just a beginning, but it is merely a return; it does not prevent. Unless Pakistan realizes its property rights as being fundamental, unless it cleanses its courtroom cemetery and digitizes all of its land records, then the mafias will go on stealing, the courts will go on stalling, and the poor will go on losing.

Where there is no property, there is nothing else.