KARACHI: Hours after a scuffle between the lawmakers of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), PTI chief Imran Khan defended his party’s MNA Murad Saeed by accusing the ruling party legislator of disrespecting female members of Mr Saeed’s family.

In his multiple tweets later in the day, the PTI chief also referred to past events to prove his point against the PML-N.

In his tweets he gave different reasons which led to the scuffle and the aggressive behaviour of Mr Saeed contrary to the one claimed by Mr Saeed himself after the episode.

“[I] condemn in strongest terms the shocking abusive language used by PMLN MNA Jawed Latif against Murad Saeed’s female family mbrs [members],” the PTI chief tweeted. “Stooping to such depths esp [especially] in our society where the sanctity of our families is respected by even the worst of enemies is unacceptable. PMLN again shows its fake adherence to respecting “chadar & chardiwari” while disrespecting women, including family mbrs [members] of opponents.”

Earlier in the day when asked about the reasons behind the scuffle, Mr Saeed claimed that the PML-N parliamentarian had called his leader [Imran Khan] a traitor which elicited a strong reaction from him in protest.

Mr Khan also recalled his personal experiences with the PML-N in the past and the ruling party’s comments against former prime minister Benazir Bhutto only for being woman.

“Sharifs targeted BB [Benazir Bhutto] & Mrs. Bhutto [Nusrat Bhutto]; they targeted Jemima incl [including] labelling her “Yahudi lobby” & falsely accusing her of smuggling antiquities,” said Mr Khan’s tweet.

Published in Dawn, March 10th, 2017