MULTAN, April 12: District Nazim Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi has alleged that the working of his office is being obstructed since he expressed his inability to allocate funds for the public meeting of Gen Musharraf in Lahore.
Speaking at a press conference on Friday, he claimed he was stopped to receive Governor Khalid Maqbool on his visit to Multan. He said being head of the district government, he was supposed to welcome dignitaries in Multan.
Giving details of the events that have landed the district government into an administrative crisis, Mr Qureshi said the district coordination officer contacted him on April 8 and asked him to allocate funds from the district council resources for the Lahore public meeting of Gen Musharraf. He said he asked the DCO to bring the requisition in black and white.
Mr Qureshi said after going through the proposal he found that it was beyond his financial authority to re-appropriate district council’s funds to another head. The house (district council) was empowered to do so but convening its meeting on a few hours’ notice was rather impossible.
He said, therefore, he asked the DCO to contact either the provincial finance secretary or the local bodies secretary as they might be authorized to do so.
He said he did not want to face the brunt of audit objections and quoted a newspaper report that the Lahore High Court Bar Association had resolved to initiate criminal proceedings against the Lahore district Nazim and his deputy for “squandering” resources from the taxpayers’ money on the arrangement of Gen Musharraf’s public meeting.
The Makhdoom said he was in Lahore on Thursday last when the DCO contacted him by telephone and informed him that the governor was visiting Multan on April 12, and that a briefing had also been scheduled to be held in the committee room of the district Nazim’s office in the evening. He had to rush back late in the night to receive the governor next morning.
He said soon after his arrival in Multan the DCO came to his house and persuaded him to contact the provincial home secretary saying “the authorities are not happy with you.”
Mr Qureshi said he simply refused to contact the home secretary because he (the Nazim) had nothing to discuss with him and told the DCO that if the secretary had something to talk about, he should contact him.
He said the DCO insisted that he should explain his position to the home secretary. “On my stand that I did not feel any need to talk to the home secretary, the DCO told me that I need not come to receive the governor.” Later, the DCO told him that venue of the briefing to the governor on the development projects in the district had been changed from the Nazim’s office to the DCO’s office. The DCO told him that he had not been invited to attend the briefing.
The Nazim said he would not resign and added that he wanted to function according to rules and regulations. He said he had no political prejudices. This was evident from the fact that the district government gave equal amount to every union council.
Mr Qureshi said he would like to welcome Gen Musharraf on his visit to Multan to address a public meeting on April 19.
He said none of the district Nazimeen belonging to the PPP would resign. He said he would uphold the dignity of the confidence people of Multan reposed in him, but without compromising on the principles.
APP ADDS: The governor has said he will look into the matter relating to the alleged incident in which the Multan district Nazim was not allowed to receive him at the airport.
“Neither I had issued such instructions nor any such happening was brought into my notice,” the governor told a news conference at the office of the Khanewal district Nazim.