Akif represented North-West Frontier Province, now Khyber Pakthunkhwa, regularly alongside established artists from other provinces, performing often as the star attraction on Pakistan Television and other regional channels. Soon, Akif's fan base spilled across the border into Afghanistan, and his songs were granted increased radio airtime. Akif regularly travelled to Afghanistan to record songs on Radio Afghanistan in Kabul and to cater to the demand of his growing fan base. Here Akif met and produced songs with Qamar Gula's husband Mohammad Din Zakhil, a harmonium player and Gul Alam, a noted tabla player, who was also Nashenas's personal musician at the time. In 1974, a 27-year-old Akif was invited by Chaklala Television to sing alongside Naheed Akhtar, Tahira Syed and Roshan Ara Begum, three senior figures of the music industry, for the show "Mehfil". However, Akif was vehemently against performing duets and perceived such requests to be insults to his artistic individuality. He rejected producers' requests for him to sing with Tahira Syed, and instead sang a solo of Qateel Shifai's song, "Gungunati Si Koi Raat Bhi Aajati Hai". The producers reformatted the track as if Akif was serenading Tahira Syed. Known for his fiery temperament, Akif argued with the producers for not complying with his wishes and for falsely representing his version of the song. Akif was known industry-wide for his angry disposition and principled nature. During a live television show in 1978 at "Lok Tamasha" in Shakarparian, Islamabad, Akif stopped mid-performance. Due to faulty technical equipment Akif was seen gesturing to Azhar Lodhi, the presenter and Tufail Niazi, the director that he was unable to hear the music properly. When they signalled for him to continue, Akif lost his temper, and in an act of rage kicked a prop stool into the air, threw his microphone to the ground and walked off stage. On another occasion in 1988, at a patriotic concert organised for Pakistan government's chief guests and ministers at Liaquat Memorial Hall, Rawalpindi, Akif refused to sing in a group behind lead singer, Shaukat Ali. He ignored the producer's instructions and left the venue from the back exit during the performance, resulting in a three-month ban from the music scene. However, this became a turning point in Akif's career as his comeback track "Zam Da Husn Jazeero Ta" went on to become one of his most successful releases.