Nepotism: Watan Card scam unveiled

PML-N representative says officials of Revenue Department involved in extortion.

MUZAFFARABAD: Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) district representative Mehr Matloob Sial alleged that several officials of the Revenue Department involved in the distribution of Watan Cards among flood victims have been extorting money.

“There are hundreds of reports of Watan Cards being handed over to the patwari’s friends and family rather than the flood victims,” Sial said. Sial said that the Punjab chief minister Shahbaz Sharif had ordered an inquiry into the Watan Cards allocation process. “Officials of the Revenue Departments, particularly the deputy district officer (DDO-Revenue) Muzaffargarh Fakhar Salam has been delivering Watan Cards among his friends and family,” Sial said, adding “and all this has been taking place while thousands of flood victims protest outside his offices.” Locals told the PML-N representative that none of them could even hope of getting a Watan Card without giving him or his companions money first. He added that he had collected evidence to attest to the corruption of the DDO and had prepared a detailed report to be presented to CM Shahbaz Sharif for further action.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 20^th,2010.