Though it’s been years since the transportation system in Pakistan revolutionized to some extent as commuters were blessed with app-based ride-hailing services, in particular, Careem and Uber. However, unabated incidents of molestation and mistreatment, especially with females, yet cast doubts over the transparency and management system with regard to their Captains’ hiring.
On one hand Uber is running one of their biggest campaigns focusing on Women Empowerment #HarBallHaiOpportunity but on the other hand, the history is still repeating itself where we can see a lot of harassment stories popping up on social media every day. So what about #HarBallHaiOpportunity?
In legal terms, when such cases arise, Uber has a very simple and realistic reply that none of the drivers is employed by Uber itself but they are just vendors. In this scenario, the security of all the riders comes under Question.
PS: There is no way that Uber or Careem can track their drivers once they turn off their phones.
Another such highly reprehensible incident surfaced in Lahore wherein a 26-year-old working woman fell victim to bullying by an Uber Captain named “Ali Zeeshan”.
His sister narrated the whole incident on her Facebook page on March 15, 2019. She apprised that following the incident, he sister lodged a formal complaint with the Uber Management against their Captain Ali Zeeshan but in return, ironically her Uber account was blocked by the Company.
In addition to that, though an unconditional apology was sought from the ill-fated woman via messages but no concrete action against the Captain was guaranteed.
Following the full text of story posted on Facebook by victim’s sister:
“The next morning, her Uber account got blocked by the company, while she received messages of unconditional apology and some vague promise of a hidden, undisclosed action that would be taken against the driver should they find the complaint to be authentic. Her account is still blocked while the flimsy messages of apology are still there.
I do not want a monetary compensation from the company for what my sister went through. Honestly, nothing can make up for the trauma she had to face. But this post was extremely necessary, to publicly call out and shame this man for his inhumane conduct. I am not even targeting Uber particularly, me and my sisters have been using Uber and Careem both for 3 years now, and have had good and bad drivers in both.
This is to call for a transparent and effective method of accountability within the cab companies for what their commuters experience.
My sister is a daily Uber commuter. 2 days ago, what happened to her has shocked me to my very core. The driver name is Ali Zeeshan and the car number plate is LEH 8462.
She takes the same route daily. When she took the ride on Wednesday morning, the driver refused to follow her route directions. She asked him again to take a left, and he replied with: tou chup kr k bethi reh. She got taken aback and asked him to check his tone, also reminded him that she will be the one paying for whatever route the car takes. His reply was “tujhy jitna show hora hai wo day aur ab moun na kholi”. She got very very upset and asked him to talk to her respectfully. He said: main tery baap ka nokar nae hun jo tujhy galliyon main liye phiroon, maine 14 lakh galliyon main gari chalany k nae dye *******!!!!
She got extremely shocked and scared and said that she is also not his hired help, who would tolerate this tone, upon which he stopped the car and asked her to get out: tu utar….UTAR YAHAN pay *********.
As every female is unfortunately familiar, a man’s rising volume in tone instantly makes you afraid of impending violence, so she jumped from the car, scared to death as she was. She told him that she would complain to the company and won’t pay him for the ride, and ran to the nearest rickshaw.
He rushed towards her, grabbed the rickshaw with his hands and verbally abused her relentlessly while my sister was trembling inside the rickshaw. After a while, the rickshaw driver himself had to threaten him to back off and other people nearby also had to intervene to make him get lost.
The rickshaw driver kept asking my sister where to go, but she couldn’t speak for several minutes, after which she burst out crying. This is a 26 year old confident, economically independent and a very strong woman I am talking of. She has gone through intensely difficult phases in life without shedding a tear. So you can only imagine her state at the moment.
After reaching her office, she spent hours just crying in her cabin while her colleagues repeatedly kept asking what had gone wrong. After a few hours, she emailed Uber to take action against the driver, and also personally messaged a senior manager within the company. The next morning, her Uber account got blocked by the company, while she received messages of unconditional apology and some vague promise of a hidden, undisclosed action that would be taken against the driver should they find the complaint to be authentic. Her account is still blocked while the flimsy messages of apology are still there.
I do not want a monetary compensation from the company for what my sister went through. Honestly, nothing can make up for the trauma she had to face. But this post was extremely necessary, to publicly call out and shame this man for his inhumane conduct. I am not even targeting Uber particularly, me and my sisters have been using Uber and Careem both for 3 years now, and have had good and bad drivers in both.
This is to call for a transparent and effective method of accountability within the cab companies for what their commuters experience. I shudder to think what else that man could have done, what if the rickshaw was not nearby, what if the rickshaw driver had not intervened. There are endless horrific possibilities in my mind.
None should be allowed to drive a cab without proper vetting, and this one piece of scum should be immediately fired. Please never travel with this scumbag if he keeps on driving a cab.
Since we don’t have a personal car for everyday use, we are forced to keep on using cab services and have no other choice. However, this is a terrible and shocking reminder of how unsafe women can be in a supposedly safe, urban space for using a service they are bloody paying for.
What a tragedy that a woman can’t even stand her ground and argue because of course a vocal woman hurts male ego and is an invitation to violence.
For shame!
Please share this as much as possible.”
