Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly on Friday passed a resolution calling for the formation of a committee to thoroughly investigate allegations of harassment levelled by woman lawmaker Ayesha Gulalai against Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan.

The resolution was moved by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s Arfa Khalid, calling for the committee to hold in-camera proceedings over the issue and submit report within a month. The speaker has been requested to constitute the committee and include members from both treasury and the opposition benches. The resolution was supported by PML-N, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM). The lawmakers from PTI were, however, not present in the House when the resolution was taken up.

Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, in his address to the National Assembly, said that the issue of harassment should be taken seriously as it had affected the integrity of the whole House. “It is the question of the honour and the dignity of the House … we have to enhance prestige of this House,” he said, adding he had been in the parliamentary politics for the last thirty years but never witnessed such a situation.

Abbasi said both Imran Khan and Ayesha Gulalai were respectable personalities, hence, a bi-partisan committee should be formed to probe the allegations and the committee must hold its proceedings in-camera. He said investigation by the special committee will enable both the sides to defend themselves. “Both the accused and the accuser will be given respect. PTI chief has all rights to defend himself against the allegations,” he said. Abbasi also promised round-the-clock protection for MNA Gulalai after she claimed on a private television that she was scared for her life following disclosures against the PTI chief. He said Islamabad IGP has been ordered to provide security to her.

While announcing her departure from PTI earlier this week, Gulalai had accused Imran Khan and his ‘gang’ of having an ‘immoral character’. The MNA from Waziristan alleged that Khan ‘would forward inappropriate and explicit text messages to party women’, claiming that she received the first such message in 2013.

Talking part in the discussion, ruling league MNA Marvi Memon paid tributes to Gulalai while thanking her for exposing the ‘reality of PTI’ before the country. “I can say on oath that what she has said is 100 per cent true. She’s not the only one to have faced this … and by coming out she is giving strength to others who are still quiet,” she said, while refuting PTI’s claims that Gulalai was being used by the PML-N to malign the party and its chief.

Nafeesa Shah of the PPP said that PTI chief has the right to defend himself in this matter. However, she questioned why PTI did not take any action against party leaders who had targeted the younger sister of Gulalai. While defending Gulalai, another PPP MNA, Shagufta Jumani, said, “If such matters keep coming up, women will be forced to sit at homes.”

Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl’s Naeema Kishwar called for presenting the report of the inquiry committee in parliament.

PTI’s chief whip Shireen Mazari, while reacting to the call for forming an investigation committee, lashed out at the ‘defenders of women’, saying where were they when PML-N’s Khawaja Asif had used foul language against her on the floor of the House. “If investigations are to be conducted, those should start with Khawaja Asif as he had passed offensive remarks against me on the floor of the assembly,” she said.

Last year in June, Kh Asif had used derogatory language against Mazari, saying “Someone make this tractor trolley keep quiet” when she and some other lawmakers protested to a speech he was delivering in the assembly.

Awami Muslim League (AML) leader Sheikh Rashid, meanwhile, moved a privilege motion against PML-N lawmakers over being ‘manhandled’ in the assembly premises. He claimed that following the disqualification of former prime minister, he was attacked by PML-N supporters. “The House must investigate who those people are. No matter who I am, I should be given respect because I am part of this assembly,” he said. The opposition parties then staged a walkout in support of the AML leader.

Published in Daily Times, August 5^th 2017.