What happened: Recently ProperGaanda came across a female citizen from Lahore named, Eesha Assad who shared her account of street harassment where four men followed her around at MM Alam, Road and then one of them conveyed his Shell business card to her through a khwajasira standing at the signal. Read Eeshas’s statements below regarding the harassment and stalking.
The harassment: “I was driving home alone in my car around 6pm at MM Alam Road and got stuck in traffic. I saw an Audi in my right lane with 4 men in it, staring. A khwajasira came to my door begging, I shook my head and drove a bit forward. She then proceeded towards the Audi, and in a couple minutes came back to my window, banging on it trying to give me a card. I signaled no yet she tucked it in my window. The said card turned out to be a business card. That’s when I understood that these men had paid her to pass me their contact details.”
The stalking: “I refused to even look in their direction. But they were deliberately slowing down to stay side by side with my car, leering and laughing. This stalking continued for five more minutes. Then I decided to stop my car entirely until they had no choice but to drive forward and get lost. I parked at the nearest crowded plaza until I was sure they were gone. If I hadn’t god knows how long they’d be stalking me for.”
Shell’s response: We asked Eesha if she took this up with the Shell Company, “I sent them multiple emails on the same day and they called me regarding the case, they said they’re going to do a full investigation as the card stated the man named Shahmeer, works at Shell in Washington DC.” Shell later informed Eesha and she updated us that it was a fake business card, “This guy is not their employee. Shell will be now pursuing this as a case of impersonation or identity theft but, they are closing it as a harassment case because it doesn’t fall under their domain anymore.” What you need to know: According to statistics, 99 percent of women in Pakistan have experienced some form of harassment at least once in their lives. The general societal attitude towards street harassment is also psychologically damaging for the victim because they get blamed for it. The Protection against Harassment of Women at Workplace Bill was passed in 2010 to provide a safe workplace environment for women, but the government has yet to pass a law protecting women from street harassment.