ISLAMABAD: On a day when the country got a new prime minister, the hottest topic on news bulletins and talk shows on Tuesday night were the harassment allegations levelled at Imran Khan by a woman lawmaker from his own party.

Ayesha Gulalai had made public her decision to part ways with the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) via social media in a brief but incendiary announcement, accusing Mr Khan and his “gang” of having “immoral character”.

As news of her leaving the PTI spread from social to mainstream media, the PTI women wing, led by Dr Shireen Mazari, gathered at the National Press Club on Tuesday evening to refute the allegations against their chairman.

She claimed Ms Gulalai’s charges against the PTI and Imran Khan were condemnable and disrespectful to all women members and party workers.

“Women workers are held in the highest esteem in the PTI,” she said, adding: “Ayesha could have left the party if she had wanted to, but should not have hurled false accusations against Imran Khan”.

In their defence of their leader, the PTI women termed Ms Gulalai “an opportunist” for levelling allegations of corruption and sexism within the party.

Alleges harassment at Imran Khan’s hands; party women gang up to defend chief

“She wanted a party ticket for NA-1 and is now hurling accusations, even though the decision to hand out tickets has not been finalised. She has not even been attending party meetings for some time now.”

Responding to the PTI women, Ms Gulalai also held a press conference at the same venue just hours later and announced her decision to quit the party, but not her reserved seat.

She revealed that she had been staying away from party meetings because they were held at Mr Khan’s Banigala residence.

“I was upset and could not bear to be part of that corrupt culture,” she said, alleging that: “[Imran Khan] wants western culture in this country — he wants to corrupt us, to corrupt Islamic culture and Pakhtun culture”.

She alleged that Mr Khan would forward inappropriate and explicit text messages to party women, claiming that she received the first such message in 2013.

Despite repeated media queries, she refused to share any of the messages, insisting instead that reporters should check Mr Khan’s Blackberry and get details from the telecom regulator.

Talking about the matter of a party ticket, she claimed that the late Benazir Bhutto had offered her two tickets while she was in the PPP. “I am not interested in a ticket from such a party, where the criteria for allotting tickets is decidedly different,” she said, sarcastically.

Apart from accusing the top party leadership of harassment, she called upon ordinary people not to let women come too close to the PTI. She even lauded deposed PM Nawaz Sharif as an honourable man who “belonged to a respectable family”.

“I demand that the Supreme Court of Pakistan charge Imran Khan Niazi under Articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution — when a prime minister can be disqualified on charges of financial misconduct then this man should also be charged for his moral wrongdoings,” she said.

She also alleged that PTI leaders such as Jahangir Tareen and Pervaiz Khattak were corrupt, and declared that Imran Khan had “psychological issues”, since he appeared to be jealous of talented individuals in the party.

Ms Gulalai was accompanied by her father, who continuously added points while she spoke to the media.

Also on Tuesday, former PTI members Naz Baloch and long-time activist Malaika Raza, who had also left the PTI recently, claimed that only male members were given importance in the party, while women workers were kept at a distance from the limelight.

However, both denied any harassment or moral misconduct within party ranks.

Published in Dawn, August 2nd, 2017