Daily Times

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf’s MNA Ayesha Gulalai recently announced her exit from the party and addressed a press conference that has created another storm in Pakistan’s political landscape. Prima facie, her allegations are serious.

Gulalai cited as her reasons for leaving the party the “immoral character of the party’s chairman Imran Khan” and the “mistreatment” of women workers by the leadership. She accused Khan of sending inappropriate messages to female workers of the party and in a rather disturbing revelation, told the press conference that Khan has even used disrespectful words for the late Benazir Bhutto.

Now, in a deeply patriarchal society such as ours, it is standard practice, unfortunately, to shut down a woman’s voice in cases where there are allegations of sexual misconduct or inappropriate behavior on the part of a man. Most often than not, she is denigrated as a pawn in a larger scheme of defamation – and at all times, she has to bear ugly jibes against her character.

Sadly, Gulalai has experienced much the same. She has attracted the ire of die-hard PTI supporters on social media, who have spewed venomous hate and even death threats – against not just her but also her sister Maria Toorpakai Wazir, an international squash player. Gulalai has faced serious harassment from news anchors on various TV channels who have taken the undue liberty to raise their voice, dismiss her allegations and pressurize her on national television — all without any concrete proof themselves.

In this event, Shireen Mazari, a long-time member of PTI, was quick to rubbish all of Gulalai’s accusations, saying that the only reason for her exit is that she was denied a party ticket in the upcoming General Election from the NA-1 constituency.

Harassment and abuse are unfortunately becoming a common practice in workplaces, no matter what the size of the organisation might be. Therefore, it is imperative that a full investigation be launched given Gulalai’s claims. Whether she is operating on a political agenda or not is of secondary importance here.

The fact that this is the second exit of a prominent female worker from PTI raises serious questions about the party’s relationship with women in its ranks. Earlier this month, Naz Baloch quit PTI to join Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), claiming that only male members were given importance and female workers were kept at a distance.

For the ever vocal Imran Khan, now is the perfect time to step up and address these concerns. If the party is truly about change in Pakistan, these allegations should not be taken lightly — neither by his party nor by the rest of the nation. The only way to win this argument is through an inquiry. *

Published in Daily Times, August 4^th 2017.