LAHORE: Patari Chief Operating Officer (COO) Ahmer Naqvi on Thursday said that he was “grateful and indebted” to the women who spoke up about the music sharing platform’s former CEO Khalid Bajwa’s “vile and misogynist behavior”.
Ahmer, in a series of tweets, spoke about the recent resignation of Patari CEO following harassment allegations. Bajwa stepped down from his post on Wednesday after two women took to Twitter to share conversations they had with him and claimed that he harassed them on multiple occasions.
“I am sorry that I did not have a chance to comment on the past day. There were a lot of procedures and emotions to deal with. I hope you have had the chance to read the official statements from Patari,” Ahmer said in a series of tweets.
Thanking the women for “risking a great deal deal to bring to light Khalid’s vile and misogynist behaviour”, Ahmer said, “His behaviour was aggressive and predatory and he exploited his position of power in the company to intimidate and sexually harass women. I regret that we were not able to identify this behaviour earlier and act upon it.”
“To reply to some of the questions that have rightfully surfaced in this moment, Patari had, prior to this incident, already instituted processes for reporting abuse/harassment. An audit had also taken place which revealed no instances of sexual harassment within the company.”
“We will now be conducting a second, independent audit on this. We are committed to this process and committed to creating a safe space at Patari where there is zero tolerance for misogyny and predatory behaviour. We are open and indebted to your concerns and critiques,” he added.
The Patari COO also addressed the abuse directed at some of his female colleagues after the issue came to light.
“Lastly, I wanted to address the abuse being directed at some of my female colleagues. Khalid’s unconscionable behavior is by no stretch of the imagination a reflection upon these people and using this as an opportunity to attack the women he worked with is in the same spirit of misogynist abuse that we are condemning here,” he said.
Earlier, the music sharing platform had released an official statement saying, “In light of recent developments, Patari’s CEO Khalid Bajwa will be stepping down from his post with immediate effect.”
Stating that an investigation had already been underway about prior allegations, the company said that it was “deeply saddened” over the matter.
