JUI leaders seek end to MPA-DC row over leaked audio

CHITRAL: Since a leaked audio of a telephonic conversation between MPA Molana Hidayatur Rehman and Lower Chitral Deputy Commissioner Naveed Ahmed went viral last month, the two have been at loggerheads.

MPA Hidayatur Rehman

A few days ago, the DC withdrew an official vehicle and security provided to the MPA, drawing criticism from people of Chitral, especially on social media, for what they called insulting the elected representative by the government officer.

Former office-bearers of the JUI-F, to which the MPA belongs, on Wednesday said the tug of war between the MPA and the DC was not good for the development of Chitral.

In a press release, former emir of the party’s tehsil chapter and ex-tehsil nazim Muhammad Ilyas, former deputy district secretary Nusrat Elahi, Hafiz Sirajul Haq and others said the row between the two was creating a negative impression in Chitral.

They said difference of opinion on different affairs between elected representatives and government officers was common but leaking the audio of conversation on social media was not acceptable and those behind it should be exposed and punished.

They asked the JUI leadership and the district administration to resolve the matter amicably in the interest of Chitral.

The issue between the two erupted after the district administration organized a gathering of over 500 people in Chitral in which national cricketing start Shahid Afridi distributed rations among deserving families.

Though there was a general lockdown and Section 144 had been imposed banning gathering of five and more than five people to check the spread of COVID-19, the district administration and the commissioner Malakand Division were criticized for disregarding the precautions.

The MPA in the viral leaked audio expresses his displeasure over the holding of the public gathering and tells the DC that he was a total failure and incompetent and caused embarrassment for Chitral. He then uses a language quite unbecoming of an elected representative.

Sources told ChitralToday that the MPA later approached the DC and regretted for his behaviour. But the DC was of the opinion that as the MPA had used foul language on phone and after recording it allegedly leaked it to social media, he should take his words back through a similar platform.