Lok Virsa retired chief accused of corruption

Although Lok Virsa Executive Director (ED) Khalid Javaid has retired from service on August 31 after completion of his tenure but he is still hopeful that the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Establishment Division and Prime Minister’s Secretariat will help in getting an extension for the slot.
On the other hand, a number of artisans are staging protest demonstrations against Khalid over a number of issues related to the wrongdoings in the management of Lok Virsa. On Friday, a number of the twin cities-based artisans again gathered outside the National Press Club (NPC) while claiming that Khalid had deprived them of their money and patronising irrelevant people while ignoring the genuine veteran artists.
Ghulam Hussain Khokhar, an art and craft items specialist, told this scribe that they would soon forward a comprehensive application to Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry against the irregularities, nepotism, and corruption. They had submitted an application to Federal Information Minister Firdous Ashiq Awan last month but no action had so far been taken on the issue, he added.
Khokhar accused Khalid of threatening them of dire consequences in case they participated in any demonstration.
Khokhar, who specialises in gem stones and working in the field for the last 25 years besides running a small training, said in 2009, the spouse of Turkish envoy purchased carved items worth Rs 1,14000 and it was decided that the Lok Virsa management would disburse the payment, but Rs 55,000 only had been paid so far.
Abdul Shakoor Qamar, a designer of ‘Hazara Phulkari’, said Daud Khan, personal assistant to ED, had taken away a number of art pieces from him as ‘gift’, saying Javaid would promote his work around the globe. “But my name has not even been registered in the Lok Virsa’s artisans list,” he added.
Khalifa Irshad Beg, a prominent name in the field of woodcarving, voiced similar grievances. “Lok Virsa office has become a den of corruption,” he said.
Similar, Khawaja Ghulam Habib Salar is a specialist in copper items but Javed, one of his students, said last time, when he went to the Lok Virsa for booking his, Daud demanded an amount of Rs 5,000 as a bribe.
Gandhi Shawara, an expert in Thar embroidery, alleged that the Lok Virsa management had confiscated embroidered work worth Rs 0.3 million.
“When I visited Norway with a troupe of artisans, the Lok Virsa administration received 50 percent commission from me,” Gandhi alleged.
When contacted, Khalid denied the charges. “It is rubbish and a propaganda campaign fabricated against me to hinder extension as the Virsa’s head. The file is in the Cabinet Division and these artisans are protesting not for their rights but playing in the hands of the elements who do not want the organisation to flourish,” he said.
Javaid said a journalist Nadeem Chaudhry was backing these people as a tool for his own interests. “I will soon file a defamation suit against Chaudhry and have already contacted National Press Club President Afzal for an action against Chaudhry.”