Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party (IPP) spokesperson Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan rejected on Sunday allegations of mistreating her domestic staff as “baseless”. Awan’s rebuttal comes a day after a video was widely shared on social media in which she was seen engaged in a heated argument. In the video, a man, who is not be seen, is heard saying “You slapped in our presence”. In response, Awan says, “I slapped because they lied.” The IPP leader was also seen verbally abusing in Punjabi, threatening to call police and demanding a payment of Rs70,000. Subsequently, the media reported that she had allegedly mistreated her domestic staff. Denying the reports, Awan alleged in a social media post that the people she was seen arguing with in the video were a “criminal group of three, who work as domestic servants and escaped after committing thefts”. She claimed the group was caught red-handed by her, and she had filed a complaint against them with police in Islamabad. “It has surfaced … that an FIR (first information report) was registered against them on charges of theft previously as well,” Awan claimed, adding that the media should take the version of the party in question before “speculating”. The incident has been reported around 10 days after a case of a minor housemaid being subjected to torture allegedly by employers in Islamabad shot into the spotlight.