A private transport company has dismissed a conductor who pushed a woman off a bus while she was trying to board the vehicle at a terminal in Lahore, after a video of the incident went viral, prompting Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz and Transport Minister Bilal Akbar Khan to take notice.
The incident, which took place on Friday, drew public criticism after passersby recorded the episode and shared the footage on social media.
The video showed the woman attempting to board the bus when the conductor pushes her away. She tries to get onto the vehicle again, but he pushes her off a second time, causing her to fall onto a parked motorcycle.
Social media users condemned the conductor’s behaviour and called for action against him and the transport company Faisal Movers Group.
Responding to the incident, Punjab Transport and Mass Transit Minister Bilal Akbar Khan said the company had dismissed the conductor and condemned his conduct.
“Thank you for bringing this to our attention. This is a serious injustice. The conductor has been dismissed from his job. The Transport Department condemns the conductor’s inappropriate behaviour and apologises for it. No one has the right to humiliate another person,” the minister said in a post on X.
He also shared a termination letter issued by Faisal Movers Group’s human resources department on November 13. According to the letter, the company terminated the services of Ali Rizwan, who was deployed at BRT Lahore, with immediate effect on disciplinary grounds.
However, Chief Minister (CM) Maryam Nawaz said that dismissal from service was not enough and directed the police to take further action against the conductor.
“He [conductor] was not employed to push members of the public around. He should be apprehended, taken to the woman’s home and made to apologise publicly,” she said in a post on X.
The chief minister added that, as the incident took place in Lahore, she had issued directions to Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Faisal Kamran.
