Firdous admonishes AC Sialkot: Why rotten fruit not removed from bazaar?

SIALKOT: Special Assistant to Chief Minister (SACM) Punjab for Information Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan admonished Assistant Commissioner Sialkot Sonia Sadaf after seeing rotten fruit at a Ramazan bazaar on Sunday.

During her visit to the special bazaar, she got angry when some woman buyers complained about sale of substandard edibles and poor performance of the administration. She asked the assistant commissioner if she had ever visited a bazaar earlier. “We are getting you recovered from one place or the other every other moment,” the SACM told the woman officer.

The assistant commissioner said “Madam, it was due to heavy rush”. Dr Firdous said everyone was facing that rush. “Have you descended from heavens? [that you can’t cope with it].” The officer replied that she had not descended from any heavens.

Dr Firdous told the AC that if her life was precious, all those visiting the bazaars had precious lives also. “You are not behaving like an AC. I’ll ask the person who appointed you as an assistant commissioner,” the SACM added. “You should go to your VIP drawing room and take rest there.

“It is your responsibility to get rotten fruits removed from here. You are paid salary for it. I don’t get any salary, but you do, and it is your duty,” Dr Firdous told the AC. After that AC Sonia Sadaf left the bazaar.

Late on, in a brief chat with the media, Sonia Sadaf said they face harsh weather and other difficulties in bazaars and markets daily. “All this conversation can be held in a civilised way also. But it was not the right way to talk [to any official],” the AC said, adding that fruits rotten due to severe heat, which were removed on daily basis. She said the issue would be taken up after Madam Firdous Ashiq would complete her visit.

Later on, Punjab Chief Secretary Jawwad Rafique Malik, while reacting to the Sialkot incident, said that the uncivilised treatment meted out to an administrative officer in a Ramazan bazaar was condemnable.

In a statement Sunday night, the Punjab CS said that Assistant Commissioner Sonia Sadaf and other administrative officers were on the frontlines despite the scorching heat and corona pandemic. He said that the use of unethical language with any officer or staff is condemnable. He said that administrative officers across Punjab were present in the field day and night for the convenience of people, which is highly appreciable. He remarked that it did not befit anyone to humiliate the government officials, adding that he saluted the tireless work and courage of all the officers working in the field. He said that he had conveyed his reservations about the tragic incident to the Punjab chief minister.

Separately, Usman Dar expressed his concerns over the Sialkot incident. He said he knew Assistant Commissioner Sonia Sadaf personally, and she was an efficient and competent officer.

Also, PML-N Senior Vice President Maryam Nawaz said the civil servants and bureaucrats reach any administrative position after higher studies and passing the competitive exams, and they are not appointed through any selection. She said any minister or CM’s special assistant had no right to insult any officer. She demanded Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan to tender an apology to AC Sonia Sadaf.