Employees shut down Gun and Country Club after PML-N MNA thrashed staffer

Say Daniyal Aziz-led administration not upholding their job security

ISLAMABAD: Over a hundred employees of the Gun and Country Club (GCC) shut down the facility on Tuesday and took to the streets in protest against the GCC management.

The employees gathered outside the National Press Club and chanted slogans against GCC Administrator Daniyal Aziz, Secretary Ather Rauf Bhatti, and the management committee of the club.



They said their job security was threatened by the management. “Warning letters to staff members and threats are commonplace … We are being paid less than market rates.

The management is spending more on litigation against employees than it pays them,” said a statement issued by the protesters.

They claimed some of the blue-eyed staffers were being paid more than others in violation of rules and labour laws.

The protest comes on the heels of a complaint of physical assault by a club staffer against Aziz.

Yasir Javaid, the finance manager, said Aziz slapped and kicked him after he challenged one of his ‘illegal’ orders. Aziz and the club management has denied the charge and blame people with ‘vested interests’ of creating the incident.

As the employees protested outside, the management committee addressed a press conference inside the press club. Committee members Nauman Shah and Barrister Masrror Shah, and GCC Secretary Ather Rauf Bhatti said the management was committed to ensuring welfare of the staff and all facilities were being provided to them.

Bhatti said Javaid had refused directions by the management and later the administrator to transfer one of the two charges he held to another official. He said Javaid’s claim of physical assault was baseless. Bhatti also said that they had previously taken action against Javaid for his involvement in human trafficking.



“Javaid used to collect money from people to send them to the US through a travel agency run by his brother. I had objected and told him to not do this business inside the GCC premises,” Bhatti said. The secretary also said that Javaid has been dismissed from his job for violating the rules.

Later, talking to The Express Tribune, Javaid said Bhatti’s claims were false and that government machinery was being used against him. “I have been receiving calls from unknown numbers about the complaint I have submitted to the police against Aziz. I am being harassed,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 11^th, 2017.