BY: FATIMA SHAHÂ .
Daily scandals continue to emerge from the Afghan Commissioner ate in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, with incidents of sexual harassment and physical and mental abuse against employees being the most prominent. Despite the Afghan Commissioner ate in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Peshawar dismissing senior officials for proven charges of sexual harassment and imposing heavy fines, the situation remains dire. According to a survey by a non-governmental organisation, incidents of harassment occur on average every other week, either involving migrant girls or current female staff, yet senior officials continue to cover it up. It is unfortunate that harassment against women is not limited to Afghan refugee women but also affects female officers within the Afghan Commissioner ate in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Peshawar. A sexual predator, who has been convicted by the Federal Ombudsman for Anti-Harassment and has held the position of Afghan Commissioner for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for the past six years, remains untouchable and unaccountable. This predator has surrounded himself with individuals of a similar depraved mentality, who view women not as humans but as objects. In 2022, Senior Deputy Director Shehnaz Begum and Senior Deputy Director Hajra Sarwar, distressed by the sexual crimes, filed a case in the Federal Ombudsman for Anti-Harassment court. Following continuous hearings, the then Ombudsperson, Ms. Kashmala Tariq, sentenced Afghan Commissionerate’s Project Director Waheed Khattak and Chief Financial Officer Attaullah Khan to dismissal and heavy fines. The accused appealed to the President of Pakistan, who upheld the decision and ordered immediate implementation of the sentence. However, Commissioner Abbas Khan, the head of the sexual predators, excessively used government resources to not only provide legal support but also to back the accused in every matter. The affected women have now turned to the Supreme Court of Pakistan. It is regrettable that despite numerous complaints of sexual harassment, the Ministry of SAFRON, which oversees the Afghan Commissionerate under Minister Amir Muqam, has not taken any action or issued any notices. Instead, the worst predator, Abbas Khan, has been appointed not only as the Commissioner for Afghan Refugees in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa but also given the additional charge of Chief Commissioner, demonstrating high-level support for sexual harassment within the Afghan Commissioner ate. In 2022, when two senior female deputy directors reported numerous complaints of sexual harassment, instead of legal action, they were targeted for retaliation, and witnesses to the harassment were also threatened. After months of struggle, when Ombudsperson Ms. Kashmala Tariq finally dismissed the perpetrators and imposed fines, the higher officials of the Afghan Commissionerate supported the convicted criminals, awarding them further benefits such as government vehicles and residences. Female employees are coerced into illegal activities, including participating in recreational tours with officers, being present at the office outside working hours, and being demanded sexual favors in exchange for petrol, diesel, and DSA payments. Contractual and other female workers in various Afghan Commissioner ate projects have been suffering for years. They are often abruptly transferred to distant areas or dismissed without cause under the guise of retrenchment, solely for refusing sexual advances from officers. An extreme example is Deputy Director Shehnaz Begum, who, despite being the most senior female employee, was dismissed and forcibly removed from her residence after refusing various sexual demands from Project Director Waheed Khattak and Chief Financial Officer Attaullah. Similarly, Deputy Director Hajra Sarwar, a highly skilled and reputable officer, was subjected to various forms of sexual abuse and ultimately had to file a case in the Federal Ombudsman for Anti-Harassment court. Recently, another Deputy Director, Sehrish, has also lodged a complaint against such sexual misconduct in the Federal Ombudsman’s court, with hearings underway. However, these issues involve Pakistani women, while the number of sexual abuses against Afghan refugee women runs into the hundreds. Unfortunately, the Federal Ombudsman’s jurisdiction is limited to government offices and does not extend to the abuses faced by Afghan refugee women at the hands of Afghan Commissionerate officials. Public circles have expressed shock that helpless Afghan refugee women and Pakistani women working at the Afghan Commissionerate are left without any recourse. The Ministry of SAFRON, currently led by Engineer Amir Muqam, a prominent central leader of the Pakistan Muslim League, has made no difference, and incidents of sexual abuse continue to rise. The UNHCR office in Peshawar also has officials supporting the predators, such as Nasir Azam and Sahibzada Younis, whose sole task is to procure beautiful Afghan refugee girls for a foreign official named Kofi. Whenever a female Afghan Commissionerate employee seeks help for sexual abuse, UNHCR officials not only discourage them but also take no action on their complaints. Due to these conditions, decent women now fear going to the Afghan Commissionerate office, and the plight of Afghan refugee women remains unaddressed. If an empowered investigative committee were to be formed by UNHCR’s senior officials today, dozens of female employees from the Afghan Commissionerate and hundreds of Afghan refugee women residing in camps would narrate their stories of sexual abuse.
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