Nothing that is morally wrong can be politically right. — William Gladstone

The recent confrontation between the Lahore High Court (LHC) and the Punjab government has brought into sharp focus a perennial dilemma of governance in Pakistan: how to balance speedy relief for citizens with the constitutional guarantees of due process and judicial oversight. At the centre of this tussle lies the Punjab Protection of Ownership of Immovable Property Act, 2025, a law introduced by the provincial government to curb land grabbing and resolve property disputes within a compressed timeframe of ninety days.

Land disputes are among the most common and bitterly contested issues in Punjab. For decades, ordinary citizens — particularly widows, the elderly and the poor — have complained of land mafias, forged documents and endless litigation that drains both finances and patience. Against this backdrop, the Punjab government, led by Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz, presented the new law as a decisive intervention. The stated aim was to empower the state machinery to act swiftly, restore possession to rightful owners and dismantle the networks that thrive on procedural delays.

Maryam Nawaz has publicly defended the law with forceful rhetoric. In her view, the Act represents the state standing with the weak........

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