A Karachi woman became victim to harassment and intimidation by her employer, allegedly backed by the owner of a prominent media house headquartered in the metropolis, it emerged on Tuesday.
According to the president of the ruling PML-N’s Karachi chapter, the woman Dr. Nadia worked at ‘Esse’, a private clinic reportedly owned by Bol News’ owner Shoaib Sheikh and located in Phase 6 of the city’s posh DHA neighbourhood.
The PML-N leader, Muhammad Salman, claimed that the woman was kept in an eight-hour long police custody at the Gizri police station to pressure her into signing a maafi nama (letter of apology) for the alleged theft of a mobile phone, an FIR for which was registered earlier.
He said that the conditions included a payment of Rs. 110,000 as a penalty to leave her job at the clinic, besides changing her cell phone and refraining from making any phone calls to her current patients.
Salman further stated that the investigation officer, a female, was under pressure from her seniors to ‘do as directed’. Sheikh, he claimed, wanted the doctor to sign the said document stating the reasons as to why she left the job and spent a night in police custody. He also said that the parents of the woman were perturbed at the treatment meted out to their innocent daughter.
Earlier, Salman wrote to the Prime Minister’s Complaint Cell in Islamabad, urging them to take notice of the occurrence.
In his letter, he stated that he was contacted by the woman’s family, who conveyed to him how she left the clinic due to a lack of commitment on the employer’s part, besides non-payment of her salary and harassment.
The PML-N leader also intimated, in his letter, that Dr. Nadia was intimidated upon her attempts to part ways with her job, including the allegation of data leak from the clinic. “Please note that the clinic Esse is owned by the owner of Bol TV and Axact company Mr. Shoaib Sheikh who has a legacy of threatening employees in fake degrees’ case as reported in various TV channels and and newspapers,” he said.
Salman asked the Prime Minister’s Complaint Cell to intervene in the matter to ensure justice to the victim.
