Daily Times

A shocking incident of female harassment has surfaced on social media in which a self-proclaimed FIA official shamelessly threatens a bus hostess. The man warns the hostess on a bus  of ‘dire consequences’ just because he demanded an extra water bottle.

The incident reportedly happened on Sunday in a Faisal Movers bus, traveling from Lahore to Islamabad.

An eye witness on the bus shared the whole incident in his exclusive interview with Daily Times Newspaper. Ahmad Butt was seated right in front of the so-called FIA officer- Ahmad walks us through the whole incident. Faisal Movers 610 was headed from Lahore to Islamabad- Ahmad tells DT: “That guy was seated behind in a green shawalwar kameez, we were still on the motorway, headed towards the toll gate-that is when the ground hostess brought in some water bottles for everyone on the bus.  Each of us was given one bottle each. The man behind me demanded for another bottle-she politely refused stating that she cannot give him more than one bottle due to the company’s policy. The man in green snatched away her tray and grabbed two more bottles saying ‘I can take as many bottles as I want, who the hell are you to tell me how many bottles I should take? I am the customer and I can do whatever I please’ He spoke in a very angry tone and all of us were shocked at his behavior”’ shares Ahmad. “The bus hostess told him that everyone gets one bottle to which the man started to disparage her with every possible derogatory word you can imagine. He started shouting ‘mein tumahara baap hun!’ you do as I say, it’s your job and you have to obey me, I am the customer and you have to abide in whatever I tell you to do-He even said “Mein tumhe bus sey utha ker bahir phenk dunga, mein tumhe utha ker ley jaunga aur woh kerunga tumhare saath jo tum soch bhi nahi sakti” (openly threatening her with a rape threat) Most people didn’t realize what was happening because most of them were wearing headphones- only when the hostess started crying did they notice the commotion. Me, my friend Jamal and a few more passengers started to calm her down and we launched ourselves at that guy- all of us insulted him for misbehaving with the girl. Everything became loud and so the driver came to check what was happening-we all told him the whole story. Motorway police was called and the man was reported. The angry man now became a soft spoken, humble citizen of the country- he completely denied the whole incident and blamed the girl for misconduct, complaining that she didn’t know how to talk with the passengers.  The police men asked us if he was telling the truth and all of us denied-we told the officers the real story. Things then escalated from there and he again reverted back to his normal self-threatening everyone that he was an FIA officer. The motor police seemed intimidated by the man’s claim-they tried to resolve the matter by asking the man to apologize to the hostess. He causally blurted out a sorry which was just to save himself from the whole drama. The hostess did not accept his apology and insisted to file a harassment case against the man, she even demanded that the man be taken off the bus. The motor way police, who was now heavy under the influence of the so called FIA agent told everyone to calm down and have a peaceful journey-also adding that we can call them if the bad behavior is repeated. People on the bus demanded to throw the man off the bus. There was no way that he could continue this journey with the rest of us- we all then got off the bus in protest. Another representative from Faisal Movers then walked in and requested the man to leave the bus as he had already created a lot of nuisance for all the passengers on the bus.  Even after he was thrown out, the man kept throwing insults at all of us, demanding a list of our names and phone numbers so that he can teach us all a lesson, he shouted” mujhey inn sab ka number chaye, mien inn sab ko dekh lun ga”

After that incident, I decided to load the clips to social media as this was all very distressing to watch, how a man treated a woman on duty that was just doing her job. No human being deserves to be treated like this; no one deserves to be threatened with a sexual assault. I took it upon myself to speak about the matter and use my influence to educate men like him so that they could benefit from this example and check their behavior. It is also important for people to stand up for the women in similar situations, said Ahmad Butt. Ahmad Butt is a musician who has played for Nescafe Basement Season five this year for ‘The resistance’ by Abdullah Siddiqui. Ahmad is well known in the artist community, he also owns a performing art company by the name of ‘Rearts’. The clips that Ahmad posted have now become viral. Everyone has now seen the face of this FIA officer-who by all means did not represent the position he was openly flaunting. People who are hired into such sensitive organizations should be even more careful about their conduct and character around civilians.