Revenue collectors in Hazara end strike

MANSEHRA: Revenue collectors have called off their two-month-long strike after a committee constituted by the Commissioner of Hazara division declared all five first information reports lodged against their officers and colleagues, allegedly on charges of corruption and bribery, as baseless and unproven.

“We have ended our strike across Hazara after the government accepted all our demands and initiated proceedings to quash the FIRs registered against officers and collectors in Mansehra, Abbottabad and Haripur districts,” Sarfaraz Abbasi, the central president of the Patwarin and Qanongoyan Association, said during a press conference here on Saturday.

Flanked by other office-bearers of the association, he said that a three-member committee, headed by Mohammad Sohail, the settlement officer in Mansehra, was formed to investigate the cases lodged by the Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) against five revenue officers and collectors. The committee concluded that all the cases were based on mala fide intentions.

“The director of the Anti-Corruption Establishment Khyber Pakhtunkhwa also constituted a separate committee recently to investigate the FIRs lodged against five officers and collectors of the Revenue Departments in Mansehra, Abbottabad, and Haripur, which is expected to submit its findings within the next two weeks,” Abbasi said.

He added that the revenue collectors were assured of justice by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister for Revenue Nazir Abbasi, Commissioner Zaheerul Islam, and Senior Member Board of Revenue Imtiaz Shah during a meeting held recently.