FAISALABAD: Renowned singer and head of his own Brabari Party Jawad Ahmed was on Thursday removed from the podium by the organisers at a social media conclave when he allegedly spoke against Prime Minister Imran Khan and his governmnet.

The conclave was organised at the Faisalabad Arts Council where the singer, along with some others, was invited as a guest speaker.

Addressing the gathering, Jawad Ahmad said both the former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and the sitting premier Imran Khan had been terming each other’s governments corrupt. Similarly, he added, the democratic governments had been dubbing the martial law regiems corrupt and vice versa.

This, he said, meant that so far the country could not have any honest and fair government.

As soon as the singer uttered these words, one of the organisers of the event came to the stage and stopped the guest speaker from speaking further.

The organiser then told the remaining speakers to refrain from speaking against the prime minister.

He also chanted slogans in favour of Imran Khan.

Remaining composed despite the rude gesture, Jawad Ahmed first returned to his chair and then left the venue.

Commenting on the issue, Ali Raza, an MPhil student attending teh conclave said the organisers must have honoured the singer as they had invited him to the event.

He said being considered a party of “educated people”, the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf should promote tolerance rather than muffling the criticism.

TRANSFERRED: The Government College University Faisalabad acting vice chancellor Dr Nasir Ameen has transferred the chairperson of Applied Chemistry department on charges of financial embezzlement.

In a related move, the laboratory and store of the department have also been sealed and the acting VC has formed a committee to probe into the matter.

Sources said the steps were taken after Dr Ameen received complaints that the department’s chairperson allegedly embezzled public money in purchase of material and chemicals.

Dr Asghar Jamal has been appointed chairman of the department.

Dr Ameen was not available for his comments.

Published in Dawn, March 29th, 2019