What happened on Tuesday: Noor Mukadam, 27, daughter of former diplomat Shaukat Mukadam, was found murdered at a private residence in Islamabad’s upscale Sector F-7/4 on Tuesday night. The brutal murder has gained national interest, with #JusticeforNoor standing at the number one trend on Twitter as people rally against the murder that was allegedly committed by Zahir Zakir, the son of an influential businessman. About Therapy Works: A counselling and psychotherapy centre operating in Lahore, Islamabad and Karachi, Therapy Works has a network of therapists in said cities and also conducts courses which allow individuals to become trained counsellors. How the organisation is involved: Following the murder of Noor Mukadam, multiple social media posts went up on Twitter and Instagram calling for Therapy Works to be banned, alleging that the accused, Zahir Jaffer, had obtained certification from the organisation and was practising as a counsellor.
I literally have texts with him telling me to come to TherapyWorks for the session??? https://t.co/mGkZZUte3t
— trent crimm, the flake (@lubbadubbdubbb) July 21, 2021
The tweet below shows the accused, Zahir Jaffar, photographed after a counselling session with students at Beaconhouse
he gave counselling sessions to the kids??? #ZahirJaffar #JusticeForNoor pic.twitter.com/K6oXf4uouU
— Amk (@Amkx__) July 21, 2021
ملزم ظاہر جعفر باپ دادا کی کمپنی احمد جعفر اینڈکو کا چیف برانڈ اسٹرٹیجسٹ۔تھراپی ورکس اسلام آباد سے تربیت یافتہ سائیکو تھراپسٹ،بیکن ہاؤس کے بچوں کو نوجوانی کے چیلنجز پر لیکچر دینے والا
اس قصاب کو جب نفسیات پڑھانے والے اساتذہ نہیں پہچان سکے تو ایک لڑکی کیسے پہچان لیتی#ZahirJaffer pic.twitter.com/mmeZ4OzKok— Iffat Hasan Rizvi (@IffatHasanRizvi) July 21, 2021
The response: The organisation shared a statement on its social media assets soon after the murder. The statement reads, “Zahir Jaffer was enrolled as a student in UK Level 3 from September 2015 to September 2016. After this he joined UK Level 4 from October 2016 to June 2018 . He did not complete his coursework and International Essays, and accordingly was never ever given permission to see clients.”
— TherapyWorks (@TherapyWorksPak) July 21, 2021
However, pictures from the Therapy Works Instagram page show Zahir Jaffer enrolled in a Level 5 training course. While people have claimed that the accused received certification from the organisation, Therapy Works denies such a document being issued.
A psychotherapist at #TherapyWorks … pic.twitter.com/pYiKKDvRcA
— Amk (@Amkx__) July 21, 2021
Reactions: In light of the recent events, Twitter user @Rameezay shared her experience of reaching out to Therapy Works to obtain verification regarding the certification of a therapist trained by the organisation, only to be told she was holding a ‘personal vendetta’.
Clearly your credibility and authentication methods and procedures are severely flawed https://t.co/KKfAxHNyqi
— Manal Aijaz (@meemelif) July 21, 2021
Sadaf Faisal, an ex-student of the organisation stated she had to leave because she was “unable to deal with these narcissistic bullies”.
#therapyworks#MentalHealthMatters
I was an ex student of Therapy Works . I left this place as I was unable to deal with these #narcissistic bullies . I forwarded my complaint to #CPCAB as well . pic.twitter.com/zG9SBmLdGR— Sadaf Faisal (@RumaisaZara) July 22, 2021
What else: The Therapy Works website claims it is associated with the Counselling and Psychotherapy Central Awarding Body (CPCAB) in the United Kingdom and is a member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP). In the aftermath of the recent allegations against the organisation, Twitter user @Nutellastaan tweeted asking BACP whether Therapy Works was a member with them, to which BACP replied that it is not a member and they have “contacted them to ask they remove the BACP logo from their website and other advertising materials.” The CPCAB tweeted that it was conducting an investigation into the matter as well.
Hi,
Thanks for bringing this to our attention. We can confirm that this organisation is not a member of BACP, and we’ve contacted them to ask they remove the BACP logo from their website and other advertising materials.
Maria
— BACP (@BACP) July 22, 2021
We are deeply saddened by this news and our thoughts go out to all concerned. We take this very seriously and our investigation, as an awarding organisation, is currently underway.
— CPCAB (@cpcab) July 22, 2021
Journalist Tom Hussain has tweeted that the Islamabad Police will also be interviewing the management of Therapy Works.
#JusticeForNoor Update-2: @ICT_Police has decided to interview the management of Therapy Works, which granted murderer #ZahirJaffer qualification as a therapist and subsequently employed him. @Nutellastaan @BACP
— Tom Hussain (@tomthehack) July 23, 2021
The accused’s mental health: Individual accounts have stated that the accused, Zahir Jaffer, suffered from schizophrenia but ProperGaanda could not independently confirm this. The accounts allege he was treated at Therapy Works after which he himself received certification to practise as a counsellor.
tw: misogyny, threat of violence.
some msgs i received from Zahir Jaffer around the time he was diagnosed with schizophrenia. i would never discredit mental illness, but this is pure violence and the signs were ignored. pic.twitter.com/er39j2myWw— Zahra Haider (@zarahaider) July 21, 2021
However, the police officer supervising the investigation said that when they arrested Zahir Jaffer “he was sound and in his senses. He may have had a past history [of taking drugs] but at least at this time he was completely in his senses.” Click here to see more from Propergaanda.