Judicial inquiry against commissioner and DC demanded

PESHAWAR: A judicial inquiry against commissioner and DC Chitral should be ordered for arranging public gatherings in Chitral town and Booni for Shahid Afridi during the coronavirus lockdown.

This was demanded by MNA Molana Abdul Akber on Saturday. He also called for suspending the officers for breaking the law in complete disregard to Section 144 and other precautions.

Speaking at a press conference in Peshawar, he said in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic the government had started a lockdown across the country.

People are being directed to stay home and even not being allowed to go to mosques to offer prayers and for this purpose Section 144 has also been imposed. The masses are also being directed to always keep social distancing.

He said people of Chitral were strictly following the government instructions and so far Chitral is safe from the virus.

But trampling all the restrictions and violating Section 144, the commissioner Malakand Division Riaz Mehsud reached Chitral and with the DC arranged a public gathering to facilitate Shahid Afridi to hand over 20 bags of wheat flour to 500 people, including women, just for publicity.

Later, a similar gathering was arranged for him in Booni, Upper Chitral.

He said even the flour bags were arranged for the cricketer from the utility stores, making another blinder and robbing the locals of their right to get subsidized items from the utility stores.

He said the DC also arranged a musical night to please his visiting boss but the participants had to run away from the venue when there was an earthquake.

He said charity organizations had distributed thousands of food packages among affected people but they never used the opportunity as a publicity stunt.

The MNA said people of Chitral were law abiding and following the precautions to check the spread of coronavirus but the district administration at the behest of the commissioner broke the law and trampled the precautions.

He said if the deadly virus spread in Chitral, the commissioner and the DC Lower Chitral will be held responsible.

Besides the demand for a judicial inquiry against the commissioner and DC, he also warned of initiating legal proceedings against them.