Let me make it crystal clear before I begin writing this piece–I do not condone online abusing or cyber trolling in any way. What I’m against is falling prey to double standards.
Putting things in perspective, here’s what happened–Hasan Zaidi, filmmaker, journalist, media consultant and editor Magazines Dawn, reported abusive behaviour by a Bank Alfalah employee.
Zaidi shared screenshots of Fazeel Tajammul–the Unit Head Financial Reporting at Bank Alfalah–in which he seems to be using expletives for him.
A few hours later, Bank Alfalah released a statement that it had fired Tajammul ‘with immediate effect’ after an inquiry was conducted.
Here are some reasons why I think Bank Alfalah went too far…
1. A warning would’ve done the job
Though the tweets were quite abusive and certainly not something to be taken lightly, firing an employee should be the last resort. The bank should have made Tajammul apologise to Zaidi or delete his tweets to him. If Alfalah did that and Tajammul refused to comply, the bank should have shared that.
2. Did Alfalah respond because Zaidi is an influential journalist?
Was the move to appease an influential journalist? Wouldn’t the bank resort to other options or even completely ignore the complaint of a regular person who reported an employee for abusive behaviour? Did the bank try to score brownie points on social media?
3. Tajammul tweeted in his personal capacity…
Granted, he did write on his Twitter bio that he worked at Bank Alfalah but Tajammul wasn’t representing Alfalah when he abused Zaidi. He was commenting as a private individual and was not in any way, representing the bank or its management.
4. Hypocrisy at its peak…
Hasan Zaidi is one of the most foul-mouthed journalists on Twitter. After Tajammul’s screenshots started doing the rounds on Twitter, people started sharing screenshots of Zaidi’s abuse-riddled tweets as well.
By the same standard, Dawn should get rid of Hasan Zaidi ASAP…
5. The inquiry conducted by Bank Alfalah…
Since Bank Alfalah wrote at the end of its statement–“This is for the general information of the public at large”–I think the public deserves to know how the inquiry was carried out. Was Tajammul even given a chance to be heard? Firing an employee a few hours after he’s reported for abusive behaviour points to the contrary.
6. Hasan Zaidi and his history of having people fired…
This is not the first time that Zaidi has complained to an employer about an employee. He didn’t like a transmission on Radio 103 FM and he complained to PEMRA about it. The host of the transmission was fired after Zaidi received a call from the owner. He gloated about it too.
7. Tajammul had a stellar record…
As an employee, he was awarded twice for his work by the CEO himself, according to a tweet. Well, such an employee deserved to be heard before he was fired or at best, an official warning.