CHITRAL:The locals have criticised the authorities for the death of an employee and his son in a snow avalanche in Matti Khor area of Lowari Pass on Saturday last as he was ‘forced’ by his employer to travel to his duty place in extreme weather conditions at a meager wage of Rs8,000.

Talking to Dawn here the other day, Haji Anzar Gul, the chief of Malik clan in Chitral, said the tribe, the deceased belonged to, would approach the police to register case against the deceased’s employer and PTCL for sending him to duty despite knowing the fact his life was at risk because of threat of snow avalanches.

He questioned the logic behind sending him to the Lowari top which had received more than three metres of snow blocking the passage to the PTCL tower.

Mr Gul said the guard, Anwaruddin, had to take his son, Ubaidullah, and son-in-law, Rafique Ahmed, along with him as it was impossible to pass time alone in such solitary place at high altitude, but while ascending the top, he lost his and that of his son’s life to a snow avalanche.

He deplored that the relevant high-ups did not bother to contact the aggrieved family.

PTCL assistant manager in Timergara told Dawn on contact that the deceased was the employee of a security agency hired by the company for security purposes.

He stated that the employee was never ordered to ascend the Lowari top, the place of his duty, during snowfall.

The security firm’s manager in Peshawar could not be contacted on telephone.

NAB INQUIRY SOUGHT: Nasir Ahmed Khan, the owner of a Chitral-based construction firm, has appealed to the Chief Justice of Pakistan to take suo motu notice of a forgery case in which emir of provincial chapter of JUI-F Gul Naeeb Khan is involved.

Addressing a press conference the other day, he said Gul Naseeb fraudulently used his firm’s licence to obtain the contract of projects in Pak-PWD.

He said during his term as senator, the JUI-F leader had executed projects through his discretionary funds through Pak-PWD, alleging that the former lawmaker somehow obtained the licence of his firm for taking part in the bidding process.

The contractor said the projects’ contracts were obtained by Gul Naseeb and his brother, Zar Naseeb, but the projects were not executed properly, and due to defective constructions, the NAB had conducted an inquiry against the former senator.

Mr Khan asked NAB to conduct a test to ascertain the veracity of his signatures in the tender documents in Pak-PWD through the forensic laboratory and bring to book the culprits for forgery.

Published in Dawn, February 10th, 2018