IFA officer, Nafeesa Kiran accused of bribery, harassment

Serious charges have been leveled against Islamabad Food Authority (IFA) Food Safety Officer Nafeesa Kiran, including bribery, misuse of authority, and revengeful actions that have allegedly caused extreme financial and psychological trauma to a local trader.

The affected trader, Muhammad Ahmed, has come out with a video message explaining the charges and has also threatened to end his life. He has appealed to Federal Minister of Interior and Narcotics Control Syed Mohsin Naqvi to take immediate notice of the issue.

According to Ahmed, he has been involved in the milk trade business for several years and has met all the legal requirements. Despite this, he has allegedly been subjected to constant harassment by the above-mentioned Food Authority officer.

The trader alleges that milk worth around Rs400,000 was destroyed without any official notice and without taking any samples for laboratory testing.

In the video message, the trader asked why he was issued a business license if his milk was adulterated, and vice versa. He also asked why the laboratory samples and test reports were not available if the milk was of substandard quality.

The trader also added that until now, he has not received any test report or copy of the sample analysis. Ahmed also claimed that some officials of the Food Authority asked him for bribes, and when he refused, he was subjected to strict and punitive actions.

The trader alleged that this was the reason why his business gradually went down, and he was left with debts amounting to around Rs5 million.

However, this came a day after the Punjab Food Authority (PFA) arrested three shopkeepers for selling and manufacturing adulterated milk in Rawalpindi. During the raid, three shopkeepers who were involved in the adulteration of milk were arrested, and cases were registered against the shopkeepers.

According to a spokesperson, the DG of the PFA visited the motorway toll plaza and other areas in Rawalpindi, where 2,700 liters of adulterated and unsafe milk were disposed of.

The food authority teams checked a total of four milk shops at Sixth Road, Kuri Road, and Sohan. Cases were registered against three of these shops, and three other milk shops were sealed for adulteration.

In addition, two maunds of vegetable oil, which was used for adulterating milk, were seized and destroyed. The spokesperson also said that at the motorway toll plaza, 15,000 liters of milk, which was being transported in three milk tanker vehicles, was also checked. Persons involved in milk adulteration and preparing unsafe milk by using harmful chemicals would be dealt with strictly as per the law.