The federal government has announced that people affected by fraud linked to the One Constitution Avenue project in Islamabad will be paid compensation, after the Cabinet approved a probe committee’s report.
Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal made the announcement at a press conference with Information Minister Attaullah Tarar and State Minister for Interior Talal Chaudhry. He said the prime minister had formed a committee to investigate fraud on One Constitution Avenue, and that the Cabinet had approved its report.
Probe findings and renaming proposal
Ahsan Iqbal said the report also recommended changing the project’s name, because the One Constitution Avenue title was allegedly obtained through forgery. He said all rules and regulations were ignored in the scheme, and that the Capital Development Authority (CDA), Islamabad’s civic body, also fell short over the irregularities.
He added that legal requirements related to the project would be completed. The first building on One Constitution Avenue, he said, belongs to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and victims of the project would be compensated.
NAB reference and accountability
Talal Chaudhry said facilitation had allowed people to be looted, and that those who lost money were not at fault. He said the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Pakistan’s anti-graft body, has been given three months to bring a reference in the matter.
Attaullah Tarar said a joint investigation team (JIT) had examined the case; fuller findings from that briefing were not set out in the material available for this report beyond that reference.
Hotel plan for the site
Separately, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said One Constitution Avenue would be converted into a hotel. Speaking about land issues in the capital, he said the scale of occupations in Islamabad was hard to describe, and that people had even occupied lawns.
The government has not, in these remarks, published a compensation schedule, individual payout figures, or a timetable for when payments will start. What is clear from the ministers’ statements is a policy decision to compensate victims, pursue accountability through NAB within three months, and rework the project’s future use and name.
Aasan alfaaz mein
Islamabad ke One Constitution Avenue project ke fraud se jo log mutasir hue, unhein sarkar muawza dene ka elaan kiya hai. Cabinet ne investigation report manzoor kar li hai, aur NAB ko teen mahine mein reference lane ka waqt diya gaya hai. Wazir-e-Dakhla Mohsin Naqvi ke mutabiq yeh jagah hotel banayi jayegi. Mutasireen ke liye ab asl sawal yeh hai ke muawza kab aur kitna milega.
