CHITRAL: Lawyers affiliated with the political archrivals Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz swept the elections of the Chitral District Bar Association here on Friday, in a rare show of unity.

Khurshid Hussain Mughal Advocate of PML-N was elected president while Sirajuddin Rabbani Advocate and Nabaik Sharakat Kalash of PTI vice-president and general secretary, respectively.

The other office-bearers included Arsalan Ahmed finance secretary, Faisal Kamal information secretary and Jamshed Ahmed library secretary.

Members of the unions affiliated with the two major political parties won the polls unopposed as no candidate belonging to PPP, JI, APML and ANP, contested the election.

AWARENESS WALK: Civil society organised an awareness walk on Friday in connection with the World Consumer Rights Day which started from the polo ground and ended in the New Bazaar.

Riaz Ahmed, assistant director, Consumers Protection Council, told the gathering that observing the day was meant to sensitise and inspire the consumers to know about their rights and how to get them.

He said due to lack of knowledge and information, the consumers were generally unaware of their rights and were subjected to worst type of exploitation and were fleeced by traders and the service providing organisations.

He said very few people approached the consumer court and consumers protection council in Chitral to get their grievances redressed.

The participants were carrying placards inscribed with information about the consumer rights while pamphlets were distributed among the people to guide them about the organisations helping them.

INQUIRY DEMANDED: The Chitral-I neighbourhood council members have asked the provincial government to initiate inquiry against their naizm for misappropriating development funds amounting to Rs1.7 million.

While protesting in front of Chitral Press Club, the councillors, including Pir Karam Elahi, Fida Ahmed, Abdul Hameed, Karimullah, Buzurg Bibi and Fatima Surayya, said nazim Maulana Mufti Zameer Ahmed did not convene the council meetings during last three years.

They said the nazim told them point-blank that it was his prerogative to spend the development funds and he was not supposed to divulge the details of the expenses before them.

They said the nazim had established the council office outside its territorial jurisdiction at a high rent while the local people, including women, had to hire taxis to get to the office to meet the nazim.

Published in Dawn, March 16th, 2019