The confusion is real. Was Zahir Jaffer taking clients and was a practicing therapist at the organisation Therapy Works? In a social media post, the organisation stated, “He [Zahir Jaffer] did not complete his coursework and International Essays, and accordingly was never ever given permission to see clients. This is borne out by our list of authorised therapists in which his name has never been included.”
On Geo News programme, ‘Aaj Shahzeb Kahnzada Kay Sath’, Journalist Shahzeb Khanzada revealed that Zahir Jaffer was giving therapy sessions to children at Beaconhouse’s Rawalpindi branch.
According to leaked audio of Therapy Works CEO Tahir Ahmed Zahoor, Zahir Jaffer along with Dr Umber Zaidi ( an authorised counsellor of Therapy Works, as listed on their website) had visited Beaconhouse to give a counselling session to students, on how to cope up with the increasing pressure in education. Khanzada shows leaked audio and video of Tahir Ahmed Zahoor saying that he was not responsible for Zahir going to Beaconhouse since Zahir went on his own. Khanzada aired a clarification from Beaconhouse, in which the school states that they had reached out to TherapyWorks for their counsellors to come to the school sessions and Zahir had been sent by the organisation.
It was further revealed that Dr Umber and Zahir were affiliated with the Therapy Works and that they both shared their credentials with the school principal on arrival.
The official Beaconhouse statement reads:
“In Jan 2019, A teacher of Beaconhouse Senior Boys Branch, Satellite Town, Rawalpindi was enrolled in a course at TherapyWorks. She asked her teacher, Dr Umber Zaidi (an authorised counsellor of TherapyWorks as listed on Therpary Works website) to visit the school as a guest speaker and talk to students about coping with study pressures. Dr Umber Zaidi brought Zahir to the school with her. Both shared their TherapyWorks credentials with the school head before the session with Students and Teachers. At no point were the students left unsupervised.
In short, Beaconhouse did not invite Zahir. It was Dr Umber Zaidi’s decision to bring him along. Since she is an authorised counsellor of TherapyWorks, the school did not question her decision. It is pertinent to note that the session took place in Jan 2019″.
During the show, Shahzeb Khanzada exposed other contradictions that CEO Tahir Ahmed had been stating as the truth. Khanzada reported that Tahir knew about Zahir’s mental health and let him become a therapist and take on clients anyway.
In the leaked audio, Tahir Ahmed says that it was only after June 2021 that Zahir’s parents contacted him and asked him to help their son [Zahir].
“He is seriously ill, he will do something,” Tahir Ahmed to Zahir’s parents.
However, Zahir’s father ignored Tahir’s warnings.
Dr Imtiaz Dogar, President Pakistan Psychiatric Society, a guest on the show said, “The murder of Noor Mukadam is not a psychological but a criminal matter.”
