CHITRAL: The elders of Sheshi Koh valley have alleged irregularities inthe appointment of class-IV employees in Chitral district.

Haji Anzar Gul, Haji Sher Mohammad Khan, Maulana Saifullah and Abdul Quddus told reporters here on Monday that the class-IV appointments were made over favouritism and bribery instead of merit.

They claimed that a resident of Bumburate village from Ayun union had been appointed to class-IV post in the civil dispensary of Sheshi Koh union council in an act of injustice towards the valley residents.

The elders wondered if not a single person from among 22,000 residents of Sheshi Koh area was suitable for that appointment.

They warned that they wouldn’t allow any non-resident to hold any government office in the village.

The elders also criticised the authorities for ignoring the Sheshi Koh valley in the appointment of a forest guard and resented the appointment of nine posts toArandu area on the basis of its forested area.

They said the Sheshi Koh forest was the largest in the district but it hadn’t been allocated any reserved quota in the recruitment of forest guards.

ELECTED: Zahiruddin of Dawn has been elected the ChitralPressClub president.

The other newly-elected office-bearers include senior vice-president Saifur Rahman Aziz of Samaa TV, vice-president Mian Asif Ali Shah Kakakhel of PTV, general secretary Abdul Ghaffar of Daily Surkhab, office secretary Syed Nazir Hussain Shah of Mashriq TV and finance secretary Noor Afzal Khan of Daily Aaj.

Meanwhile, a workshop was held in Bubmurate valley on Monday to discuss a project meant for the ‘promotion of integrated mountain safety in Northern Pakistan’.

The project was launched by the Aga Khan Agency for Habitat (AKAH) inKalash valleys of Bumrurate, Birir and Rumbur, which were devastated by the flash floods in 2015.

During the workshop, AKAH project expert and chairman of Ayun and valleys Development Programme RahmatIlahi discussed the areas in which training could be imparted to the local people by including their indigenous knowledge.

Experts Fida Hassan and Syed Rahim Aman Shah said no management plan could be successful if it was not based on the local knowledge and the decades old experience of the residents.

Published in Dawn, December 31st, 2019