Majority of harassment cases from govt sector

Islamabad : Majority of sexual harassment cases received by the Federal Ombudsperson Secretariat for Protection against Harassment (FOSPAH) are from government sector.

This was stated by Federal Ombudsperson for Protection against Harassment Kashmala Tariq while talking to the representatives of private companies at the pre- launch event of a branch of UK Immigration Solutions held on Saturday. She said that 80 to 90 per cent cases received by the Ombudsperson Secretariat are from government sector.

“The main reason for this high ratio of reported cases is the job security enjoyed by the government servants which gives women employees a courage to protest against any such behaviour,” said Kashmala while stressing to provide secure environment for women at the work place.

Talking about the general impression that most of the harassment cases reported by women are fake, she said not even a single fake case has been reported since she has joined the Ombudsperson Secretariat.

“We can see women overshadowing men in their performance at the educational institutions. They make more than 50 per cent of our population. Only way to utilize their potential is to provide them secure environment at the workplace,” she added.

Kashmala said that soon, the Ombudsperson Secretariat would initiate surprise visits of different organizations to check whether they have displayed Code of Conduct on Sexual Harassment at a prominent place, as required by the law.

“The organizations found without the display of Code of Conduct would be fines on the spot,” she said. “I wish that by the end of my tenure, everyone becomes aware of legal implications of harassment at workplace that the law harassment at workplace becomes redundant.”

She urged the harassment victim to collect strong evidence against the harassers before filing a case. She said that Ombudsperson is working closely with the cybercrime wing so that harassment at social media could be controlled.

In her introductory remarks, lawyer Samarah Suklaman Albu talked about the facilitation provided by UK immigration solutions. She said that UK is the top 7 countries where people want to do business. She said that the reason to be in Pakistan is to encourage everybody to go and invest in UK.

“The purpose of this interaction is to empower companies and individuals who have toiled with the notion of moving to the UK or Europe and provide them with tools to make an informed decision as to whether their ideas of moving to UK or Europe are feasible,” said Samarah.