NAB Freezes 3,150 Acres Linked to Bahria Town in Hyderabad
The National Accountability Bureau has frozen 3,150 acres of land in Jamshoro district that officials say was acquired for Bahria Town Karachi’s BTK-2 project, marking a major development in an ongoing inquiry into land transfers near Hyderabad. The action also covers a 67-acre villa associated with property tycoon Malik Riaz’s son, Ali Riaz, according to the report published from Hyderabad on Thursday.
The freeze was carried out after NAB issued an order appointing the provincial forest secretary as receiver under the National Accountability Ordinance, 1999. Jamshoro Deputy Commissioner Ghazanfar Qadri, a forests department official and a NAB representative visited the site after the order was received, signalling that the bureau intends to restrict all further dealings in the disputed property.
Officials said transactions linked to the BTK-2 land located along the Karachi-Hyderabad Motorway have now been stopped. The restriction covers sale and purchase, registry, transfer, lease, sub-lease, construction, development activity and the creation of any third-party interest in the property, making the freeze broad enough to halt both commercial movement and future private claims.
According to Dawn, Jamshoro Deputy Commissioner Qadri confirmed that all forms of transactions involving the land had been frozen. The NAB order, issued earlier this month by NAB-Karachi Director General Shakeel Durrani, states that the land is being dealt with under an inquiry that examined how government land was allegedly transferred for use in the BTK-2 project.
The bureau’s order says the inquiry found that 3,150 acres of government land were transferred through 94 sale deeds to M/s Paradise Real Estate. The land was linked in the order to several dehs of Thana Bula Khan taluka, including Babar Band, Hathal Buth, Uth Palan and Sarri, and was described as land notified as forest property in 1966.
The case adds another layer to the scrutiny surrounding large real estate developments in Sindh, where questions over state land, forest land, revenue records and private development have repeatedly become matters of public concern. For ordinary buyers and investors, such actions often create uncertainty about ownership, documentation and future construction in housing projects connected to disputed land.
NAB’s order also directs the receiver to take control of the frozen properties, manage any proceeds generated from them, deposit such proceeds into a separate bank account and submit quarterly reports on the physical and financial status of the land. The order warns that any attempt to transfer or register the property in violation of the freeze could invite proceedings under accountability law.
A related step was also taken in Bahria Town Karachi, where officials froze a villa reportedly owned by Ali Riaz Malik. Karachi Commissioner Syed Hassan Naqvi said the villa, spread over about 67.5 acres in Bahria Hills, had been constructed illegally on government land, according to the report.
The development is likely to intensify legal and administrative pressure around the disputed land and could affect property transactions tied to the wider BTK-2 project. The next phase will depend on how NAB proceeds with the inquiry, how the receiver takes control of the land, and whether affected parties challenge the freeze before the relevant legal forums.