The Islamabad High Court has set aside a 2022 judgment that had declared Pakistan Naval Farms and the Pakistan Navy Sailing Club illegal, reversing one of the most closely watched land-use rulings involving the armed forces in recent years. A two-judge division bench overturned the earlier single-bench decision on Wednesday, along with every order that had followed from it.

Summary: What the Court Decided

The division bench, made up of Justice Inaam Ameen Minhas and Justice Shahrukh Arjumand, allowed intra-court appeals filed against the original 2022 verdict. That reversal wipes out the demolition order for the sailing club, cancels the misconduct and criminal proceedings that had been directed against former naval chief Admiral (retd) Zafar Mahmood Abbasi and other officers, and scraps the order asking the Auditor General to calculate and recover alleged losses to the national exchequer.

In effect, this one ruling knocks out everything that came after it — the illegality finding, the demolition order, the criminal proceedings, and the financial recovery directive all fall together.

Background: How the Case Started

The dispute goes back to January 2022, when then-IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah ruled on petitions filed by two Islamabad residents, Zeenat Salim and Nasir Ali, who had challenged the Navy’s development of PN Farms and the construction of its sailing club along the banks of Rawal Lake.

At the time, Justice Minallah’s 45-page judgment was blunt. It held that the Pakistan Navy had no legal authority to run a real estate venture, and that building the sailing club on what the court described as trespassed land within a protected national park amounted to a serious violation of environmental and administrative law. The court ordered the club demolished within three weeks, directed the Capital Development Authority to take possession of the naval farms and golf course, and instructed the federal government to pursue misconduct proceedings against Admiral Abbasi under the relevant service ordinance.

The Navy pushed back almost immediately. Within days of the ruling, it attempted to file appeals against the January judgment, though the court initially raised procedural questions about whether the Navy could file such appeals directly rather than through the Ministry of Defence. That dispute over process set the stage for a legal battle that has now run for more than three and a half years.

Details: What Changed and Who Was Involved

This week’s decision came through intra-court appeals filed by the Ministry of Defence, former naval chief Zafar Mahmood Abbasi, and other respondents, all challenging the original single-bench ruling. Legal representation for the appellants included Ashtar Ausaf, Sardar Ahmed Jamal Sukhera, and Abdul Wahid Qureshi, while the federation and the CDA were represented by the additional attorney general, the assistant attorney general, and CDA’s own counsel.

The division bench’s order goes further than just softening the 2022 penalties — it knocks out the underlying finding that PN Farms and the sailing club were illegal to begin with. That’s the part that actually matters here, because everything else, the demolition order, the criminal case against Admiral Abbasi, was built on top of that original finding.

Pakistan Naval Farms itself sits off Simly Dam Road in Islamabad’s Zone 4, developed jointly by the Pakistan Navy and a private builder over roughly 2,300 kanals of land. The scheme is generally split into two phases. Phase 1, referred to as A Block, consists of the older, larger farmhouse plots of 20 kanals and above, where some of the earliest and most prominent farmhouses in the area were built. Phase 2 and its extension, spanning Blocks B through E, offer smaller plots ranging from roughly 5 to 12 kanals. The Pakistan Navy Sailing Club sits separately, on the Rawal Lake embankment itself, and was the specific structure the 2022 ruling had ordered torn down.

Quotes: What’s Been Said in Court

The original 2022 judgment was unusually direct in its language, with Justice Minallah writing that the Navy’s name, like that of any state institution, could not be used for a real estate venture unrelated to its actual functions. That judgment also described the sailing club’s construction as a grave violation of enforced law, and said the venture’s bylaws carried no legal sanctity whatsoever.

This week’s division bench order was comparatively terse in public reporting, focused on the legal mechanics of setting aside the earlier findings rather than re-litigating the underlying facts in detail. Court reporting indicates the bench accepted the appellants’ arguments without extensively restating the reasoning, which suggests the core of the dispute may still not be fully closed.

Impact: What This Means Going Forward

For residents and existing plot owners in Naval Farms, this ruling removes, at least for now, the legal cloud that had hung over the scheme since 2022. The demolition threat to the sailing club is gone, and the criminal proceedings against Admiral Abbasi and other officers no longer stand.

But it’s worth being cautious about treating this as the final word. Intra-court appeals decisions at the high court level can still be challenged further, and given how contested this case has been since 2022, with petitions, counter-appeals, and procedural disputes stretching across more than three years, it wouldn’t be surprising if the losing side in this round sought recourse at the Supreme Court. Anyone considering a financial commitment tied to Naval Farms plots would be wise to track how this case develops rather than assume the matter is permanently settled.

Conclusion: What to Watch Next

The immediate practical effect of Wednesday’s ruling is that Pakistan Naval Farms and the Navy Sailing Club are no longer under a demolition or illegality order, and the officers named in the original criminal proceedings are no longer facing that specific case. Whether the original petitioners or other parties pursue this further at the Supreme Court remains to be seen, and that’s the detail most likely to shape what happens to the scheme in the months ahead.

FAQs

What is Pakistan’s largest naval base?

This question refers to Pakistan’s actual naval military installations rather than the Naval Farms housing scheme discussed above, so it’s worth separating the two clearly. PNS Karachi, home to Pakistan Navy’s main fleet headquarters, and PNS Ormara on the Balochistan coast are generally considered among the country’s most significant naval bases, with Karachi historically serving as the Navy’s primary operational hub. Ormara has grown in strategic importance over the years due to its deep-water access and distance from the busier Karachi coastline.

How many naval bases are there in Pakistan?

Pakistan operates several naval bases and installations along its coastline, with the main ones located in Karachi and Ormara, alongside smaller support facilities elsewhere on the coast. The exact count depends on how installations are categorized, since some serve as full operational bases while others function more as support or training facilities. This is a separate matter from Naval Farms, which is a residential housing project developed under Navy welfare initiatives rather than an operational military installation.

What is the price of a 5-Marla plot in Amin Housing Society Islamabad?

This question concerns Amin Housing Society, which is an entirely different residential project from Pakistan Naval Farms and isn’t connected to the court case covered in this article. Plot prices in any Islamabad housing society shift frequently based on market demand, location within the scheme, and development status, so it’s best to check current listings through verified real estate platforms or the society’s own sales office rather than relying on older published figures, which can go out of date quickly.