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LAHORE – Pakistan state broadcaster PTV witnessed harassment allegations as a former employee speaks out after the accused manager returns to the post despite the outrage.

Mahjabeen Abid came forward with serious allegations of workplace harassment and retaliation during her tenure at Pthe TV Multan center. In a detailed account shared on social media, the journalist accused senior PTV officials of harassing her and subsequently terminating her employment after she filed a formal complaint against his behavior. The dismissal was reportedly carried out over a phone call, which further raised concerns about the case.

The victim mentioned reporting incident to Information Information ministry, which led to internal inquiry. The investigation reportedly found the official guilty under Protection Against Harassment of Women at the Workplace Act, 2010.

She even lamented being hit with online defamation campaign allegedly orchestrated by supporters of the accused. “I was stalked, my family was harassed, and I was pressured to drop the complaint,” she wrote.

After official’s removal, he challenged the inquiry’s findings at the Federal Ombudsperson Secretariat for Protection Against Harassment, leading to a second investigation. Abid claims she had to relive the traumatic events during multiple hearings, often appearing with her parents.

The second inquiry found that firing an employee via phone call is against the rules, but it controversially dismissed harassment allegations due to insufficient evidence. As state broadcaster PTV said the warning was issued to official, but Abid alleges that he has now been reinstated as General Manager of PTV Multan.

Expressing her disappointment with outcome, Abid questioned system’s handling of verbal harassment complaints. “Why is verbal harassment not considered serious? Why do victims have to provide physical evidence of emotional abuse?” she wrote.

Pakistan Television Corporation PTV has not released a formal statement in response to the latest allegations.

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Radiotherapy administered without concurrent systemic therapy showed durable disease control and manageable toxicity in patients with oligometastatic clear cell renal cell carcinoma (RCC), according to findings from a phase 2 trial (NCT03575611) presented at the 2025 Kidney Cancer Research Summit.

With a median follow-up of 36.3 months (IQR, 26.5-51.1), the median progression-free survival (PFS) was 34.0 months (IQR, 28.3-54.1); the median systemic therapy-free survival (STFS) was 17.7 months (IQR, 14.9-22.4); and the 3-year overall survival (OS) was 86.5 months (IQR, 77.5%-92.1%).

The trial investigators noted that surveillance was associated with a median STFS of 14.9 months (95% CI, 10.6-25) in a phase 2 trial published in Lancet Oncology.²

At baseline, 60% of patients (n = 47/78) were minimal residual disease (MRD)-positive; among these patients, the median tumor fraction was 22.5 ppm. With 3 months of follow-up, 25% of patients who were MRD-positive at baseline converted to be MRD-negative.

Additionally, patients who were MRD negative demonstrated improved STFS vs those who were MRD positive since enrollment (HR, 2.75; 95% CI, 1.29-5.86; P = .006); since the 3-month MRD assessment, patients who were MRD negative were still favorable compared with those who were MRD positive (HR, 4.42; 95% CI, 2.06-9.5; P <.0001).

“Metastasis directed therapy without systemic therapy offers advantages in costs, toxicities, and clinic visits over frontline systemic therapies,” wrote presenting study author Chad Tang, MD, an associate professor in the department of Radiation Oncology, the department of Translational Molecular Pathology, and the department of Investigational Cancer Therapeutics at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, and coauthors.¹ “[Metastasis-directed therapy] without systemic therapy exhibited favorable OS and toxicity profiles. Biomarkers are needed at baseline to select patients and after [metastasis-directed therapy] to guide surveillance vs systemic therapy. Circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) via a second-generation assay has the potential to inform both roles.”

The trial enrolled patients with oligometastatic RCC with clear cell histology, up to 5 metastases, and no prior systemic therapy, or more than 1 month off prior systemic therapy. Treatment consisted of receiving standard-of-care imaging plus standard-of-care biopsy, a correlative blood draw, then stereotactic radiation with or without surgical local therapy to all sites of disease, followed by standard-of-care imaging and correlative blood draw again. If patients experienced progression, they restarted the treatment cycle; otherwise, they started systemic therapy.

The trial’s co-primary end points were PFS per RECIST v1.1 and STFS, defined as a median STFS greater than 25 months.

It was noted that immunotherapy alone or as doublet, or tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) costs around $150,000 to $300,000 per year, and stereotactic body radiation therapy costs around $15,000 to $40,000 per round; grade 3 or higher toxicities occur in 45% to 85% and 5% to 10%, respectively; and clinic visits happen at least monthly and for 1 to 2 visits per round.

Regarding safety, grade 2 or higher adverse events (AEs) were experienced by 20.8% of patients, grade 3 or higher AEs were experienced by 6.7%, and grade 3 toxicities were experienced by only 1 patient. The most common grade 2 AEs were musculoskeletal pain (n = 10), pneumonitis (n = 5), cough (n = 3), and dyspnea (n = 2); the most common grade 3 AEs were musculoskeletal pain (n = 5), leukocytosis (n = 2), pleural effusion (n = 1), and abdominal distension (n = 1); the only grade 4 AE was hyperglycemia (n = 1).

References

1. Tang C, Sherry A, Seo A, et al. Phase 2 trial of metastasis directed radiotherapy without systemic therapy (MRWS) for oligometastatic clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) and investigation of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) as a personalized biomarker. Presented at the 2025 Kidney Cancer Research Summit; July 17, 2025; Boston, MA.
2. Rini BI, Dorff TB, Elson P, et al. Active surveillance in metastatic renal-cell carcinoma: a prospective, phase 2 trial. Lancet Oncol. 2016;17(9):1317-1324. doi:10.1016/S1470-2045(16)30196-6