IBA or a laundromat?

The executive director sets aside advice to sack abusers of a peon

A once prestigious institute is embroiled in yet another controversy. At least three of the senior officials of the esteemed Institute of Business Administration (IBA) were found guilty of misconduct and forcing a peon into sexual favours. The Anti-Harassment Committee (AHC) recommended their dismissal but the Executive Director Dr. S. Akbar Zaidi changed the decision by saying that just counselling is enough for the culprits.

The victim has been associated with the IBA for the last 15 years as a chaperone. He was happy with his job, which ended in 2020 when Dr. Zaidi took charge as an Executive Director. Two years ago, the Transport Manager, Kazi Mazhar, Admin Assistant Athar Rana, and Syed Nabigh allegedly involved him to manipulate official records. They coerced him into stealing petrol from official vehicles. They did not stop there and forced him into a massage service and sexually abused the peon for two years. On refusal, he was beaten brutally.

According to the IBA spokesperson, “this is an internal matter and would be dealt with under the institutional policies.” The spokesperson added that there were numerous ‘factual anomalies in the query’, but did not elaborate further and failed to respond to follow-up questions.

The victim hails from a minority community. Fearing the worst-case scenario, he kept his mouth shut and the abuse continued, he told this scribe. The victim finally gathered the strength to report the abuse to the Anti-Harassment Committee.

According to IBA rules, it is mandatory to complete the inquiry within a month, but in this case, the matter dragged on for six months. This could have been an attempt to exhaust the victim. Upon investigation, the committee declared the three officials guilty of charges of harassment and recommended their immediate dismissal from service.

Dr. Zaidi called the three officers but ignored the recommendations given by the AHC. The culprits received a slight slap on the wrist and were told to undergo counselling sessions.

According to sources, Dr. Zaidi had allegedly given shelter to the culprits who are members of the Registrar’s function at IBA. The source claimed that Dr. Zaidi appointed Registrar Dr. Asad Ilyas although his appointment was termed controversial. The members of the Selection Board had serious concerns over Dr. Ilyas’s integrity, honesty and behaviour, considering his record with the IBA. The minutes of the selection board meeting were acquired by Bol News. It is to be noted that these minutes were immediately taken off from the IBA portal by the orders of Dr. Asad Ilays, as they had negative remarks on his appointment.

A few months ago, Dr. Asad Ilyas was found guilty of harassing a student Jibrail Khan, but he was spared a minor punishment of two weeks’ suspension. Under the workplace harassment act, there is zero tolerance for harassment, but it seems that all is in vain under the leadership of Dr. Zaidi.

When the peon was informed about the decision by Dr. Zaidi, to let the accused go with counselling, he protested and submitted an appeal for a review. The matter took a terrible turn when he was threatened and subsequently, Dr. Zaidi started an inquiry against him.

Sources stated that the acting Head of HR, Ahsan Yusuf, Head of Procurement Syed Fahad Javed, Campus Manager Shahabuddin Khan and the accused officers are part of the cartel run by Registrar Dr. Asad Ilyas. According to sources, they all are allegedly involved in corruption within the institution; the procurement head Fahad Javed is considered to be the handler and the front-man of the cartel.

According to sources, Ahsan Yusuf has threatened the victim to terminate his job. Apart from this, the victim is from a Christian community who was threatened for life by accusing him of blasphemy and would be made an example like the Sri Lankan priest Yantha Kumarawala.

Transport Department officer Ali Mohsin, who testified in favour of the victim, was also dealt with for telling the truth. Ali Mohsin stated that the campus manager Shahabuddin, transferred him to the bathroom as a cleaner and he was also asked to refrain from stepping outside boundaries. These days he is the in-charge of sweepers. Ali Mohsin has also complained against this cartel of IBA officers.

Since the justice was denied by the IBA Anti-Harassment Committee, headed by Dr. Qazi Masood Ahmed, the victim moved to the ombudsman court. However, Dr. Zaidi did not appear before the court in any hearing despite being issued notices for an appearance. The complaint against him was also referred to the Vice Chancellor of Karachi University.

This is not the first time that Dr. Zaidi has been accused of misusing his powers to help secure the acquittal of harassers. Earlier, a student was expelled from the IBA for raising his voice over an act of power abuse by certain employees of the finance department on their female colleague.

Gibrail has filed a complaint of harassment against Dr. Ilyas through which the registrar was proven guilty of charges levelled against him. He was eventually suspended for two weeks. Later the committee findings were declared null and void.

Of these incidents, one of the institute’s top-ranked officers, Mashooque Ali Bhatti, a former director of the Human Resources Department, was dismissed from his services based on the charges of misconduct on 18 September 2021. Bhatti filed an appeal before Chief Minister Sindh, for an independent inquiry. The inquiry committee constituted by CM Sindh, exonerated Bhatti while recommending his immediate reinstatement. Bhatti’s matter is still pending. He filed a petition against Dr. Zaidi in the Sindh High Court (SHC). Bhatti has been proven innocent, yet, he is out of service since June 2021. This was the first stab by Dr. Zaidi for misuse of power and his first illegal suspension without assigning him any charge sheet.