Appointment of provincial ombudsperson: Court seeks replies from Punjab govt, PHF

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Tuesday sought replies from Punjab government, Hockey Federation and others on petition moved by a woman hockey player of national hockey team seeking appointment of provincial ombudsperson.Chief Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah issued the order on a petition moved by Syeda Sadia Nawazish through her counsel Rabbiya Bajwa.

The petitioner through her counsel submitted that she was expelled from national hockey team after she lodged a sexual harassment complaint with the provincial ombudsperson against head coach Saeed Khan. She said office of the ombudsperson was established under a special law, The Protection against Harassment of Women at Workplace Act, 2010, but the position of the ombudsperson had been vacant for a year. She told the court that unavailability of the ombudsperson had deprived her of her right to be treated in accordance with the law and have access to justice under Articles 4 and 9 of the Constitution, 1973. The petitioner stated that an inquiry committee was constituted to conduct the inquiry, but no proper or formal inquiry was conducted to establish the facts of the case. Rather the committee refused to fairly exercise its jurisdiction in accordance with the law and acted with a prejudiced mind. It started pressurising her to back out from her complaint. She submitted that she was being pressurised and harassed by the Pakistan Hockey Federation to withdraw her complaint against the coach. Syeda Sadia said that another player, Iqra Javed, was also dropped from the team while she was due to leave for Brunei to represent Pakistan in a sports event. She said she went to the office of the ombudsperson for relief but she was informed that office of the ombudsperson was vacant due to unavailability of the ombudsperson for one year.

She argued that Pakistan, being signatory to Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) under the UN, was bound to take effective steps for the elimination of sexual harassment. Not only she but many other aggrieved women are worried over vacant post of the ombudsperson, she submitted. She said they could not get justice.