Islamabad: Pakistan’s famous music streaming app Patari’s co-founder, Khalid Bajwa, has resigned following sexual harassment allegations against him surfacing on social media.
Two women took to social media to raise their voice against misconduct by Bajwa forcing the Patari chief executive officer (CEO) to step down.
A woman named Mehravaar was the first one to speak out on Twitter. Sharing screenshots of her WhatsApp conversation with Bajwa, she claimed that she felt “uncomfortable and overpowered by a man twice my age” and added that he “graced me with unwelcome hugs” at public events. “I shut up about it for the longest but I guess the time is right”, she said.
She told Pakistani media that she decided to reveal this now as “he’s been doing this for years. Especially to young girls. Coercing them to meet, reminding them of his position of power and trying to entice with weird perks related to Patari and what not. I just want people to be safe from him.”
After Mehravaar, another victim, Zainab, also took to Twitter and shared conversations with Bajwa alleging that he behaved inappropriately with her. She said that she was 17 and Bajwa was 27 when the interactions happened. Zainab said she was vocal about it even then.
Following the serious allegations, Patari officially released a statement announcing that Bajwa is stepping down from his position with immediate effect. The music streaming company also assured that investigation was already under way about prior allegations, indicating that the company had been aware of their CEO’s misconduct.
“We at Patari are grateful to those who brought to light Khalid Bajwa’s unconscionable behaviour. We stand in complete solidarity with the victims, and continue to have zero tolerance for harassment of any kind. We recognise that there is rampant misogyny in tech, start-up and music cultures, and so we are committed to ensuring that there is no space in Patari for such behaviour,” the statement read.
Patari’s investor syndicate, Sarmayacar, appointed Ahmer Naqvi as the interim CEO after Bajwa was asked to step down from his position.
The news became viral on social media where Pakistani twitterati reacted strongly to the harassment allegations by the co-founder of a reputed company.
Many people lauded the women for speaking out against the misconduct. “These very courageous young women who have spoken out loud about Khalid Bajwa’s sexual misconduct and predatory behaviour,” said Rabia Mehmood, encouraging women to learn from them and speak up against wrongdoings.
Meanwhile, some questioned the company’s future as Bajwa is also the co-founder of Patari. “Bajwa has been removed from the post. That’s good. But isn’t he also the co-founder of Patari? It’s difficult to understand how the company can distance its co-founder and survive financially. After all, it’s just a start-up,” Hira Inam, a media activist, said.
After the positive response from media, Mehravaar tweeted: “I am overwhelmed and amazed at all the love and support. I regret (about) not opening up about this earlier. Look what happened, girls! So proud and happy.”
For now, Bajwa has deactivated his Twitter account.
Patari is Pakistan’s first and celebrated digital music platform. It has helped revive the country’s dying music industry by providing a platform for local artists since its inception in 2015.
