IBA Karachi; Unmarried 2 women teachers protesting discrimination/demanding justice

Karachi: At least 2 incidents of discrimination against unmarried female teachers have been reported in IBA (Institute of Business Administration) Karachi, and according to the evidence received, attempts have been made to terminate these female teachers’ opportunities to reside in the institution. done
Initially, steps were taken to evict them and unmarried women were directed to move out of the “Visiting Faculty Residence” and into the “Girls’ Hostel” where these teachers would live with the female students of the institution.

On the other hand, when a concerned female faculty demanded justice from the institution, the IBA issued a show-cause notice to the female faculty only because they had protested outside the Executive Director’s office for their rights. Protesting outside the BA office, they demanded the release of an inquiry report into the matter.

According to a senior faculty of IBA, instead of the complete investigation report, parts of it were provided to the female faculty, in which all the people involved in the decision are being held responsible for the matter instead of a single person. A show cause notice was also given to the IBA and higher education institutions of the country in the era of democratic government.

Apart from this, the documents show that the orders to evict two female teachers from the visiting faculty residence came from the registrar of the institute, Asad Ilyas. An investigation into complaints of such discrimination against unmarried female teachers has also continued for several months and almost 1 month after the report was completed on June 12. Only some contents of the report were handed over to the concerned female faculty
However, IBA official sources say that despite some witnesses, the committee has apparently not found evidence of the allegation.

In this regard, according to the records received by “Express”, the Executive Director of IBA Karachi, Dr. Akbar Zaidi, who faced the charge of discrimination, appeared before the committee investigating the matter as a witness of the institute’s registrar, Asad Ilyas. Due to which his neutrality in this matter has become doubtful, despite this, the investigating committee presented its report prepared in this regard to Dr. Akbar Zaidi, however, there was no implementation of the report received on May 11 Instead of sharing it with the complainant, he raised questions on the report and the concerned committee was asked through email to clarify certain points in this regard and the committee was given another 3 weeks time for this.

It is noteworthy that “Express” tried to know the official position of all the concerned officers and teachers including the director of IBA on this issue and gave them full opportunity to give their opinion, but all the officers refrained from giving their opinion. What else did not close his mouth on the matter while an officer threatened the intelligence agencies to the representative express and even advised him to leave the job of the media house.

“Express” contacted the Executive Director of IBA, Dr. Akbar Zaidi, but as before, he also sent an SMS to know his position on the issue of non-receipt of phone calls, but there was no response.

On the other hand, according to the documents received by “Express”, this case related to “inappropriate conversation and discrimination against women” is dated 29 December 2022 and the only eyewitness of the incident is Sharjeel Hosni, head of the testing service, when a female faculty member entered the registrar’s office. and told Asad Ilyas, the registrar present there, that he has been ordered by a person named Shahabuddin Khan in a phone call received yesterday on December 28, 2022, to leave his house in VFR by January 1 (i.e. in just 3 days). .

On this occasion, the female faculty requested that at least adequate time be given to them to vacate the place so that they can take any other private accommodation of their choice, to which the registrar said that it was not possible because This matter has been going on for several weeks, on which the female faculty said that this was all a matter of discussion, there was no decision, and I heard from my dean that instead of removing me from here, someone else The option is also being discussed, on which the Registrar IBA reacted and said that everyone including the Dean and the Chair are interfering in this decision, so go and talk to them, talk to the ED, don’t come here on this occasion. The female faculty further inquired as to why the male teachers were not being made to leave while women were being expelled in this manner.

To which the registrar said that we are not removing you, you are being transferred to the girls hostel and it is not possible to transfer men to the girls hostel. Why is she being transferred, to which Ann said that she is married and has a husband, how will she live in the hostel with her husband, on which the female faculty asked in a questioning manner if she and her fellow female faculty should also bring their husbands so that they Should not be evicted from here after which the registrar took a stand “maybe you should”.

On the other hand, on this inappropriate behavior described in the document, “Express” contacted the Registrar of IBA, Asad Ilyas, and asked him why harassment or other cases come only against him and tried to know that in the document What is his position or opinion on the existing allegations, on which he said that “I am not authorized to talk to you, you should talk to our media department, I have no opinion about it”.

It should be remembered that in the past too, when there was a reaction from social media users against the forced expulsion of an IBA student Jibreel from the institution, an inquiry was made against Asad Ilyas as a result of which he was suspended for two weeks. was also visibly or demonstrably suspended, while many allegations were made against Asad Ilyas by Mashuq Bhatti, an employee expelled from IBA.
In the said case of discrimination, after the incident on 29th December 2022, when a three-member committee headed by Dr. Tariq Mahmood conducted an investigation on a formal complaint against the Registrar of IBA. According to the received documents, the IBA KED appeared as a witness in this committee by himself, which made his impartiality doubtful.
In this regard, when Dr. Tariq Mahmood, the head of the investigation committee, was asked, initially he said, “This is confidential information, I cannot tell you, you should not be interested in it.” He said that stop spying, to which the Express representative said that according to your opinion, the media houses should be closed, to which the said officer said that according to the hereafter, the media is in great danger if you want to know that in the media. If you are committing a crime, contact a seminary in Korangi. The said officer suggested that you switch your job. On further questions made by the reporter in connection with the investigation of the matter, he said that you should not call me again. If you called me, I have many people in my intelligence, I will know who shared my number with you and you are behind this case. He also said that I am not threatening you. I am against your policy and do not agree with your job. He said that I am saving your number. If you call me again, I will take my actions. Finally, he raised his voice and said that you should change your job. In the end, he said that he is not in the administration, the information of the report is with the administration, then the next morning, the representative express received an SMS from him in which he apologized to the reporter.

It should be noted that according to the rules of the Harassment Policy, the investigation report has to be completed within a month and handed over to the competent authority. However, after that, instead of implementing the report, they asked for more clarifications on it.

Apart from this, “Express” also tried to contact the concerned female teacher to know her position on this situation, but she apologized for the comment.

However, IBA official sources say that when a formal complaint was made by the concerned female faculty on this issue, IBA changed its policy and allowed them to reside in VFR for a few more months. The woman protested and moved from IBA to a private residence on her own.
On the other hand, Dr. Qazi Masood, head of the anti-harassment committee, was contacted and he said that I am the chairman of the harassment committee, so I cannot tell. However, its findings will be shared.”

Meanwhile, the spokesperson of IBA was contacted and asked if they confirm the allegations contained in the documents, to which a one-line message was received that “this is an internal matter of IBA”.