Malik Riaz Seeks Government Intervention Over Bahria Town Property Seizures and Auctions

Bahria Town founder Malik Riaz Hussain has appealed to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and government authorities to intervene in the continuing legal dispute affecting Bahria Town, specifically requesting that property auctions, transfers, and possession proceedings be suspended while underlying legal disputes are resolved. It is important to state plainly at the outset that these are Riaz's own claims and requests, not a government or court decision, and this distinction should be maintained throughout.

What Riaz Is Specifically Claiming and Asking For

Riaz has argued that restrictions on Bahria Town's development activities, together with the seizure or auction of its properties, could affect billions of rupees invested by buyers and other stakeholders. He has proposed allowing development work to resume under government oversight, with an agreed portion of resulting revenue potentially directed toward outstanding liabilities as a possible path to resolution. He has separately argued that some properties have been sold at prices well below their actual market value, and has called for a mutually acceptable settlement that would protect the interests of the state, investors, allottees, creditors, and other stakeholders, while stating explicitly that Bahria Town is not seeking immunity or concession from the law.

This Is Not Riaz's First Such Appeal

This September appeal to the Prime Minister is at minimum the third in a series of similar appeals Riaz has made to senior figures over recent months, each raising largely the same underlying concerns. In July 2026, Bahria Town appealed directly to the Army Chief to halt the property auction process and order an independent review. In August 2026, Riaz made a further written appeal specifically to Field Marshal Asim Munir and other senior figures, at that stage claiming that Bahria Town properties worth at least Rs238.6 billion had already been seized, auctioned, or faced disposal, and that a further roughly Rs372 billion in development work had been suspended. The recurrence of essentially the same appeal to different senior figures over successive months indicates the underlying dispute has not been resolved through any of the earlier approaches.

The Confirmed Legal Proceedings Behind This Dispute

Separate from Riaz's own claims, several aspects of this case are matters of confirmed public record. The property seizures and auctions trace back to a plea bargain agreement connected to a £190 million settlement case pursued by the National Accountability Bureau, after Riaz and his son were reported to have failed to pay an amount agreed under that bargain. The Islamabad High Court cleared the way for NAB to proceed with auctioning six specific properties after dismissing petitions that had challenged the process, and the Supreme Court subsequently declined to grant an immediate stay against that auction. In one confirmed sale under this process, the Rubaish Marquee property in Islamabad was sold for Rs508 million, with conditional offers separately received for two Rawalpindi corporate offices. As recently as July 2026, an Islamabad High Court bench hearing a petition challenging the broader auction process was dissolved, with the case file referred to the IHC Chief Justice for further proceedings, indicating this litigation remains genuinely unresolved at the judicial level even as Riaz continues pursuing parallel appeals to political and military leadership.

Why This Distinction Matters for How This Story Should Be Read

Riaz's specific claims, including the precise value of assets affected, the scale of suspended development work, and his characterisation of asset valuations as unrealistically low, are his own assertions made in the context of an active legal dispute in which he has a direct financial interest, not independently verified figures. The confirmed court record, by contrast, shows a legal process that has already proceeded through the Islamabad High Court and Supreme Court, with at least one property sale completed and the broader litigation still active. Both strands are relevant, but should not be conflated.

What Remains Unresolved

No government decision suspending the auction, transfer, or possession proceedings Riaz has requested has been confirmed as a result of this latest appeal. The underlying Islamabad High Court litigation also remains active following the July 2026 bench dissolution, meaning the judicial process itself has not reached a final resolution independent of whatever response, if any, this appeal receives from the Prime Minister's office.

What This Means for Bahria Town Investors, Residents and Project Activity

Any actual change in how the government or courts approach Bahria Town's seized properties or development restrictions could directly affect investors, residents, and ongoing project activity across its major schemes, given the scale of development Riaz himself has described as suspended. Buyers, allottees, and stakeholders in Bahria Town projects should treat this appeal as exactly that, an appeal and a set of proposals from the company's founder, and should watch specifically for confirmed government or court action, rather than the appeal itself, as the actual indicator of any change to their own situation. Given the pattern of repeated appeals over recent months without a confirmed resolution, stakeholders should not assume this latest approach will produce a different outcome from the previous ones.

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Sources

• National Accountability Bureau — official website