Patari co-founder steps down amid sexual misconduct
Two women take to social media to expose Khalid Bajwa’s predatory behaviour
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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 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 had been vocal about it even then.
Following the allegations, Patari officially released a statement announcing that Bajwa is stepping down from his position with immediate effect.