CM Usman Buzdar asks DCs to promote Qawwali

ISLAMABAD: The Usman Buzdar-led Punjab government, which is otherwise facing a host of serious governance issues, has decided to promote qawwali in the province by engaging the provincial administration and key field officers, mainly deputy commissioners, to promote this art.

An official document shows the Buzdar government directing deputy commissioners of districts to have Qawwali performances in their areas relayed by order on cable networks. Officials were asked not only to organise Qawwali programmes but to send reports on a proforma designed for the purpose to the chief minister’s office.

Some analysts believe that the introduction of this unique idea of governance through Qawwalis might have come from Banigala.

According to the proforma, available with The News, deputy commissioners have been asked to ensure the airing of qawwalis on cable networks and the report of the functions organised, along with pictures on Power Point, be sent to the chief minister’s secretariat.

Informed sources said that a regular monitoring mechanism has also been put in place on the chief minister’s orders to ensure that the Qawwali initiative succeeds and is implemented. The source said that weekly reports are sought from every deputy commissioner and regular monitoring is being done by the chief minister’s office.

Punjab has been the focus of much criticism during Usman Buzdar’s rule. During the last 28 months, at least five chief secretaries and six inspector generals of police have been changed in the province while the number of such key changes in different provincial departments and key field offices is much higher.

There is no protection of tenure for government servants in the province and it has become a routine to change any officer at any without even writing the reasons in government files. Prime Minister Imran Khan in a recent TV interview had even claimed that by the end of his tenure Buzdar would be remembered as the best ever chief minister of the largest province of Pakistan.