6.1.10. Land dispute and blood feud related violence

In October 2025, the Punjab government approved a new Protection of Ownership Ordinance with aim of safeguarding the property rights of citizens and taking firm action against land grabbers.1930 Moreover, the ordinance set the precedent for land dispute cases in Punjab to be resolved by the newly formed Dispute Resolution Committees (DRCs).1931 Set up at the district and tehsil levels, the DRCs are authorised to resolve land dispute cases within 90 days.1932 In December 2025, the Lahore High Court (LHC) issued an interim order suspending the implementation of the newly enacted Punjab Protection of Ownership of Immovable Property Ordinance.1933 The revocation of the Ordinance was demanded by the Pakistan Bar Council due to its ‘unlawful nature’, as reported by Dawn.1934 Following the suspension of the Ordinance, Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz expressed concern stating that the decision would benefit ‘land-grabbing mafias’.1935 With a disagreement between the Punjab government and LHC on the Ordinance, local media reported on the need of a prompt mechanism resolving land dispute cases.1936

In October 2024, a Special Court (Overseas Pakistanis Property) Act was unanimously approved by Senate and National Assembly1937 and entered into force in November 2024.1938 In January 2026, the government issued a guarantee to Pakistanis living overseas that their illegally occupied properties in Islamabad will be fully protected. Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi stated that any reported illegal occupation will be resolved within seven days.1939 Moreover, the Islamabad district administration established a special complaint mechanism as part of the measures to address complaints by overseas Pakistanis regarding the land grabbing.1940

However, according to Human Rights Watch, Pakistan’s blasphemy laws perpetuate religious discrimination and are used to target the poor and minorities in unlawful evictions and land grabs.1941 According to the same source, people often make blasphemy accusations for economic motivations, including forced evictions to acquire land that belongs to others.1942 

Sources recorded cases of demolition of houses by the government and civilians. In October 2025, more than 1 200 houses of Afghan refugees were demolished in Karachi by the Pakistani government, in an operation targeting settlements described as ‘illegal’’.1943 Demolitions were reportedly part of the government policy to remove illegal settlements from the state land.1944 Sources recorded cases of private houses of economically disadvantaged residents being illegally demolished by groups of civilians in December 2025 in Punjab province.1945

Local media reported that property disputes, both within families and involving outsiders, led to killings, including family-related land conflicts in 2025. In July 2025, a man killed his parents and wife in Tehsil, Phalia.1946 In December 2025, two men from the Brohi tribe were killed by the Jatoi tribe in the Shikarpur district over a land dispute. The attack was allegedly a revenge over the killing of two Jatoi men from the Nareja community by the Brohi tribe.1947 Also in December 2025, Dawn reported on the killing of one man by his brothers in Pakpattan District in the Punjab province.1948 Killings over property ownership between non-family members were recorded throughout 2025. On 8 April 2025, a suspect in a killing of a man in Kahuta (in Rawalpindi District) was arrested by police;1949 in another case, four individuals were arrested for killing a pregnant woman in Millat (near Faisalabad) over a property dispute in May 2025.1950 In the period between September 2025 and October 2025, local sources reported on a killing of a man in Chauntra over a land dispute,1951 as well as on the killing of two people in Nangarpar area of Tharparkar, and the shooting of a person in Kandani in Tharo Shah area.1952

Killings over property dispute continued in the first quarter of 2026. In January 2026, a Hindu farmer was shot dead by a Pakistani landowner,1953 while three individuals were killed and seven injured over a land dispute in Mirpur.1954

In 2025 and 2026, sources reported on cases of violent land disputes that resulted in arrests of the perpetrators.1955

There were also reported cases of resolved land disputes. In November 2025, the Supreme Court of Pakistan ordered re-examination of a land dispute case1956 while in December 2025, seven land dispute cases were resolved by the DRC1957 and in January 2026, a decades-old land dispute between two families was settled through a traditional jirga in the Mohmand district.1958

Despite the efforts to establish and implement a robust mechanism to promptly and fairly resolve land dispute cases, organised groups continue to engage in land grabbing1959 as sources reported on absence of accountability of ‘land mafias’ in Pakistan in 2025.1960