Pakistan’s renowned apparel brand ‘Khaadi’ finally broke silence on the allegations that it had wrongfully terminated employees and mistreated them, ultimately leading to a boycott campaign on social media.

The management of Khaadi issued a detailed statement refuting all the allegations, calling them rumors to debase the brand.

The company responded to a local blog, “Khaadi has not terminated 32 of its employees. Another malicious story being spread and linked to the above is of the apparent attempted suicide of a young female worker. Why anyone should spread this outright lie is beyond understanding, but this just goes to show how some vested interests will stop at nothing to premeditatedly plan to try and cause reputational harm to Khaadi.”

The statement added that it did not terminate the services of 32 factory employees as it was alleged since the brand is a retail organization and does not operate any manufacturing facilities, also the product of the company are sourced by a variety of vendors.

Talking about the employees that were seen protesting in the videos, Khaadi said, “They were neither permanent employees of the vendor, nor were they contract employees engaged by the vendor. Some weeks ago, and at the instigation of external vested interests, these 32 temporary workers started an agitation and eventually filed a petition in the Karachi Branch of the National Industrial Relations Commission (NIRC). That petition was dismissed by the NIRC on May 18, 2017."

It also dismissed the allegations of inhumane working condition and long hour labour. It stated that separate washrooms for male and female, and clean drinking water was available to the employees.

Khaadi categorically denied allegations that a female employee had committed suicide owing to the harsh working conditions. The clarification document claimed that the name of the employee was Rani and she was still part of the workforce.

The brand also appealed to all social media users not to share or spread news that is pure hearsay, or base your comments on speculative news, no matter shared by who, without fully knowing the facts yourself.

A number of social media activists started calling for boycott of Khaadi after video of protest by people claiming to be workers of the brand went viral on social media.