ISLAMABAD: The anti-harassment ombudsperson of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) referred the case of two senior female officers serving in the office of Commissioner for Afghan Refugees Peshawar to the Federal Ombudsman Secretariat for Protection Against Harassment.
While referring the case to the Federal Ombudsman Secretariat for Protection Against Harassment, the anti-harassment ombudsperson of KP Rakhshanda Naz, who has been a prominent human rights activist, admonished the lawyer for the accused for wasting time by using delaying tactics and agitating purely on technical grounds, and that too on concluding stage, to prolong the proceedings.
The ombudsperson has been hearing for many months a set of two identical complaints seeking strict disciplinary and legal action against the Commissioner, Chief Finance Officer and Project Director of the Commssionerate Afghan Refugees KP for sexually and mentally harassing and victimizing two senior female officers at work place.
The complainants- a Deputy Director and a Senior Deputy Director- had named the Commissioner, Chief Finance Officer (CFO) Attaullah Khan and Project Director (PD) Waheed Khattak of the Commissionerate Afghan Refugees, Peshawar as respondents (accused).
After many hearings of the case, when the ombudsperson fixed the matter for final arguments to announce the verdict on Monday, the counsel for the accused Zartaj Gul, who is the standing counsel for the office of the Commissionerate for Afghan Refugees KP, contended that the ombudsperson was not competent to hear the matter as although the complainants were employed in Peshawar, but, in fact, they were employees of the federal government.
Expressing dismay, the ombudsperson reprimanded the lawyer observing that why he did not agitate this technical issue during preliminary hearing of the matter.
She said during the preliminary hearing of the complaints, she had formally informed the Federal Ombudsman Secretariat for Protection Against Harassment through a letter about this issue and the Federal Ombudsperson Kashmala Tariq had asked her to continue hearing of the case and announce verdict.
Meanwhile, she held that since the case had concluded, thus she would send her findings to the Federal Ombudsperson to hand down the verdict.
The complainants, who had been appearing in-person, before the ombudsperson to argue their case, questioned that how the standing counsel for their office was representing the accused as it was not the official case.
The applications were filed under the Protection Against Harassment of Women at the Workplace Act, 2010. One of the complainants, who joined the office of the Commissionerate Afghan Refugees KP, in 2001 regretted that since the initiation of her service, she found the working environment of the office for female staffers as terrified and stressful, however, the current environment was worst.
She said the respondents were morally as well as financially very corrupt and highly influential, which added to the current worsening situation for the female staff. She said she was continuously being intimidated, harassed and maltreated by the respondents, which had made her much disturbed mentally.
The applicant stated that the CFO had been keeping evil eye on her since long and he had been harassing her through different manners, however, now he had been openly demanding her to spend time, particularly nights, with him and also send her subordinate female staffers to him to appease him and his top boss Muhammad Abbas Khan.
She maintained that the CFO calls her to his office on different pretexts and when she prefers to visit his office along with any of her male officer colleague, he openly demand her to come his office alone.
A few days ago, she said, when she visited the CFO office along with a male colleague Deputy Director Sifatullah Khan, the CFO while concentrating on her face in strange, joking and apparently evil way said, “Baybay ko sath na laya kuro”, (Don’t bring your mother (Mr Sifatullah Khan) with you in future.
It may be mention that in Hindko language, mother is called ‘baybay’.
“I always got well with everyone in the office and never had any complaints. Initially I thought I could cope with the CFO alone, but, now it has become hard for me to tolerate such behavior. The CFO tries to get physical with me which is not acceptable at any cost. When I don’t respond the way he wants, he starts threatening me in open and hidden words”, one of the complainant regretted.
Both the complainant said it was a notorious gang of three senior officials comprising Commissioner, Chief Finance Officer Attaullah Khan and Project Director Waheed Khattak, which is extremely corrupt both morally as well as financially and it blackmails the female staffers through different ways.
They said when any of the female staffer refuses these officials, she is victimized through different manners. They said Waheed Khattak is, in fact, the facilitator of the CFO, adding that Waheed Khattak also tortures them mentally by stopping their different files and bills etc on behest of Commissioner and CFO.
One of the applicants said when she voiced her concerns about these officials on various forums, the Commissioner, who is indirectly involved in the harassment, held an inquiry against her and surprisingly the members of the inquiry committee were those officials against whom she was voicing concerns and moving complaints.
Both the complainants regretted that these three officials have made their life miserable and traumatized. They said these officials were so influential that no one dared to take action against them.
They said their two male colleagues Deputy Director Sifatullah Khan and Assistant Director Khalid Rehman, who morally supported them in this saga, were also being victimized through different ways.
They said even Assistant Director Khalid Rehman had illegally been removed/retrenched from service on the context of financial constraint, however another person had been appointed on his place the very next day, which was worst kind of victimization and nepotism.
One of the applicants maintained that since the CFO had the mandate of clearing staff dues, releasing their traveling and daily allowances and vehicles’ repair dues etc, he notoriously uses delaying tactics to clear the female staff bills aimed at compelling them to accede to his immoral and vicious demands.
“Since last several years, the CFO unjustifiably withholds my bills, cheques, files and TA/DA dues on one pretext or another. I am now left with no option but to come openly against this man who is virtually the front man of Commissioner Afghan Commissionerate Abbas Khan,” she added.
Recalling her ordeal, she said she, her female colleague and two male colleagues were forcibly stopped from entering their office and even a notice was displayed on the main gate of the office on September 18 last year specifically mentioning “their entry into the office is banned.”
“The purpose of the notice was just to degrade us in the eyes of our colleagues. That step on the part of the CFO and Commissioner is a constant source of mental torture for us. We have informed the UNHCR of this inhuman treatment but we didn’t get any satisfactory reply. Our two male colleagues are suffering with us because they both supported us in this hour of trial,” both the applicants maintained.
One of the applicants said on her and her colleagues’ applications, an investigation against CFO Attaullah Khan was conducted and compiled by Abbas Khan, Commissioner Afghan Refugees, within a single day on December 18, 2020, which maliciously stated that ‘he had thoroughly investigated all allegations and claims leveled against CFO’. However, the CFO had nothing to do with any delaying tactics or other coercive modus operandi.
In his report Abbas Khan further stated that ‘in light of in-depth fair analysis, the allegations leveled against the concerned official (Chief Financial Officer) may be treated as baseless due to the fact that no evidence was found to prove the allegations.
The applicant regretted that the tragic aspect of the investigation was that it was initiated and completed within a single day and that too without hearing her. She said she had life threats from the accused, being much influential and notorious.
The complainant Senior Deputy Director maintained that when she knocked the jurisdiction of the competent forums, she was removed/retrenched from the service without following due course on the pretexts of financial constraints.
She alleged that one of the reasons of her victimization was that she belonged to Hazara Community. Both the complainants regretted that they had also become a rolling stone at the hands of the accused.
They also regretted that their male colleagues like Sifatullah Khan and Khalid Rehman were just being punished and victimized as they had morally favoured us in our legitimate voice against injustice and inhuman attitude of the accused.
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