Skardu:
Gilgit-Baltist’s Finance Minister Engineer Muhammad Ismail has landed in hot water after a video of him scrubbing with flooded hit residents of the Ghaanche District’s Ghursey area was viral on social media and withdrew widespread condemnation from the public.
According to eyewitnesses, local residents of Gursey stone collected to build a protective dam on self -help after rivers erosion had destroyed large cuts of their agricultural land.
As the Finance Minister’s convoy passed through the area, the residents marked him and demanded the release of official funds for flooding works.
However, the situation escalated when the minister responded angrily to the requirements.
In a verbal exchange with older residents, he allegedly shouted, “We allocated a scheme to a value of RS120 million last year, and yet the area is not certain, go to hell”.
The comments moved the flood victims, where an older man repeated “You go to hell”.
Cases further aggravated when the finance minister stepped out of his vehicle and confronted the older man physically.
The situation was closed down by Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) district president and other companions sitting on the back of the minister’s vehicle who intervened and managed to reassure the minister before escorting him back into the car.
The footage of the incident quickly circulated online and draws sharp criticism from users who described the minister’s behavior as “shameful” and “abuse of power”.
Users of social media condemned what they called the arrogance of elected representatives “drunk by authority”, abusing the much voters who chose them “.
