One of Pemra’s directors general or DGs should be sacked from service, the Federal Ombudsperson for Protection against Harassment of Women at Workplace Kashmala Tariq said on Thursday.
A complaint of sexual harassment was filed against DG Haji Adam in January 2020. Pemra has nine directors general. Haji Adam is one of them. He was the Director General for HR and Administration at the time.
A woman has alleged that he harassed her while she worked at Pemra.
Kashmala Tariq decided to admit the case in February and he was suspended in the interim on February 4, 2020. The DG went to the President’s Secretariat to try to have the ombudsperson’s order suspended. However, the secretariat did not entertain his request. He then went to the Islamabad High Court in August 2020. It passed a verdict asking the Ombudsperson to give a proper hearing to both sides before passing a speaking order within 15 days.
By August 28, Kashmala Tariq upheld her decision to suspend him to prevent him from influencing the investigation.
“Bringing all the relevant pieces of evidence together,” said Kashmala Tariq on Thursday while speaking the media. “The accumulated effect is that the complainant has been able to bring home the charge to the accused to [establish] guilt. And has succeeded to prove her allegation that the accused sexually harassed her at the workplace. The harassment case against the accused … he becomes liable to be proceeded against in terms of Section 4, sub-section 4, sub-clause 2, sub clause D.”