CHITRAL: Making mockery of coronavirus precautions, including social distancing, and violating Section 144 imposed to ban gathering of people, the commissioner Malakand Division, deputy commissioner Lower Chitral and other officers not only allowed a large number of people to gather at a ground here to receive rations from Shahid Afridi but also continued asking people to follow the precautions.
The ground of the Centennial Model High School was full to its capacity with people, most of them not deserving ration but came there to enjoy the Tamasha under the very nose of those who had for long been restricting people of Chitral to their houses or quarantine centres after imposing a lockdown.
Addressing the gathering, Commissioner Riaz Mehsud gave a lecture on how to check the coronavirus. He said we have the examples of China and Europe and America. China through its strict precautions controlled the virus while Europe and the USA did not take the precautions seriously and got into troubles.
The commissioner on the occasion also asked the people of Chitral to strictly follow the precautions such as social distancing to keep the virus away.
DC Lower Chitral Naveed Ahmed then highlighted the steps taken by his administration and told the gathering that people returning to Chitral from different cities were being quarantined and no one was allowed to go home directly.
There was so much rush that some of them jumped on one another to grab the packs of ration distributed on behalf of Shahid Arfidi’s foundation among 500 people.—Muhkam Uddin Ayuni
Meanwhile, many people expressed astonishment over the administration’s decision to allow gathering of the public as the country was facing a lockdown.
They said if Afridi was so concerned about the poor affected by the pandemic, he could have sent the rations to the district administration for distribution among the deserving ones.
They said when a celebrity says or shows something through an action, people take a lesson from it as celebrities are a role model for others.
The local administration instead of making mockery of coronavirus precautions could have used the visit of the former star cricketer to Chitral to promote its agenda of creating awareness about safety measures to check the spread of coronavirus.
Now when the top administration officers themselves openly trampled the precautionary measures how other people would consider them important and how these officers would continue propagating them.
Afridi reached Chitral along with his family and relatives on a three-day visit on April 7. He earlier distributed rations among 30 families in a village near Drosh town.
Ex-minister seeks action against DC Chitral
Former provincial minister and PPP leader Salim Khan in a statement demanded action against the DC Chitral for arranging the public gathering for Shahid Afridi when Chitralis were being stopped from returning to their hometown.
He said the law was equal for all and anyone violating it whether a government officer or common citizen should be punished.
H e said a large number of Chitralis were stranded in different parts of the country and were not being allowed to return home or put to humiliation at the Lowari tunnel but the DC and other officers arranged a public gathering against all precautions to check the coronavirus.