Nazims put Shahbaz on notice

LAHORE: Around 25 district Nazims have sought public apology from the Punjab government within 15 days for levelling false corruption charges against them, or each of them would file Rs1 billion defamation suit in their respective district and sessions court.

The district Nazims at a press conference at the press club here criticised the provincial government for accusing them of corruption through media advertisements worth millions of rupees.

They gave a 15-day notice to the Punjab chief minister, Punjab chief secretary, LG&CD secretary, and Public Relations director-general to seek apology from them through advertisements in national dailies or face defamation suits. They also thanked Governor Salmaan Taseer for seeking clarification from the accountant general of Pakistan through a letter.

Khanewal District Nazim Ahmed Yar Hiraj said the provincial government should know the difference between audit reports and corruption charges. He said the district coordination officer (DCO) was the drawing and the disbursing authority, besides being responsible for the execution of development schemes.

He said Nazim was merely a figurehead of the district, meant to provide vision and identify schemes after getting approval from the local council. He added they were not agitating against the audit reports or enquiries against them but protesting against the provincial government for making it a political issue.

Other district Nazims, including Col (retd) Tahir Sadiq and Tariq Bashir Cheema, said the government should also publish audit reports against the provincial departments in the media. They said the provincial government had withheld their development funds and the audits were made because of delayed development schemes.

They said the AGP’s report had confirmed that the audit reports were preliminary, which did not prove corruption charges. They said the AGP office, which had released the audit reports, was not certifying it while the provincial government was bent upon proving them corrupt.

They accused the Punjab government of creating an environment of harassment by transferring offices of district Nazims to the district coordination officers and DCO offices to commissioners. They said district Nazims were left without any offices.

Earlier, Governor Salmaan Taseer in another press conference with the same district Nazims also sought an apology from the chief minister and officers of departments concerned for publishing ‘misleading’ and ‘fake’ corruption charges against Nazims.

He said provincial bureaucrats could not understand the contents of the audit reports, who misguided the chief minister. He said he had not witnessed such a thing in his political career that the AGP was refuting charges of corruption against district Nazims while the provincial government was persisting with its claim.

Taseer said he was not interfering in the affairs of the provincial government; rather, the provincial government was interfering in the matters of district governments. He said he would support enquiries against those involved in corrupt practices but wanted the government to complete all procedures. He said he had signed the commissioners bill after clarifying the role of commissioners and Nazims and removing all kinds of ambiguities.

End.