Ex-Pakistani diplomat found guilty of harassing woman subordinate

By Wasim Razzaq
Pakistan’s former consul general at Barcelona, Spain, Mirza Salman Babar Baig has been found guilty of harassing a subordinate women staffer and a report in this regard has been sent to the prime minister of Pakistan.

Sources told News Diplomacy that a team of high-ranking civil servants, comprising the NADRA chairman and officials of Foreign Office and cyber crime wing of the Federal Investigation Agency, probed the allegations against the suspended diplomat and found him guilty of harassment.

It may be noted that a local employee of the mission at Barcelona had lodged a complaint against Mr Baig in June 2022. The diplomat was suspended and recalled. Pakistan’s ambassador in Madrid, Shujaat Rathor, who received the complaint, had held an initial inquiry and verified the charges.

The Foreign Office later assigned two senior diplomats, Khalid Memon, Pakistan’s ambassador to Poland, and Mariam Madiha Aftab, Pakistan’s ambassador to Bulgaria, for another probe. The two also endorsed the findings of Ambassador Rathor. They recommended immediate recall to Pakistan of Babar and punitive proceedings against him under the rules.

The harassment had taken place in April, May and the beginning of June 2022, and it took place in the office by the diplomat after sending all male employees home before time.

Media reports at that time said the employee was a mother of three and it was her fourth year in the consulate. Before June 15, 2022, when she firmly put her foot down and stopped the advances of the consul general, she was often praised as the “best of the best” in the mission.

The reports said the main evidence against the diplomat was text messages in an inappropriate language and instances where the victim was expressing her apologies and regrets.