QUETTA: Pakistan’s National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has reclaimed more than one million acres of forest land worth over Rs13 trillion in Balochistan after an eight-month anti-encroachment drive.
The operation, led by NAB Balochistan, was carried out in coordination with the Revenue Department and district administrations to clear illegal occupations and prevent future misuse of state property.
Officials said the reclaimed land has been transferred to the provincial Forest Department, securing long-term legal protection for Balochistan’s natural resources.
They called the recovery a historic step, noting that it marks the first systematic settlement of forest land records since the 1890s.
The Board of Revenue’s Land Utilization Department confirmed the operation’s outcome in an official notice, praising the efforts of NAB Chairman and NAB Balochistan DG Nauman Aslam.
The provincial government has also set up Forest Settlement Boards in all districts and Forest Tribunals at divisional levels to resolve land disputes and protect community rights.
Officials said the initiative strengthens coordination between provincial and accountability institutions and represents a new phase in sustainable forest and land management across Balochistan.
The NAB, yesterday, had reported a record-breaking recovery of over 1.1 trillion rupees for the third quarter of the year, significantly boosting national revenue.
The anti-corruption watchdog stated that this recent recovery is 242 percent higher than the previous quarter. The total amount recovered in the first three quarters of the year has now reached 5.16 trillion rupees.
These efforts have directly benefited 17,194 victims of what NAB terms “public fraud.”
The recoveries included a wide range of state assets. NAB Karachi retrieved two valuable plots worth 2.8 billion rupees in the Karachi Port Trust case. In Sukkur, 361 acres of land belonging to the National Highway Authority, valued at 2.5 billion rupees, were recovered.
