August 5,2017
By
Saeed Qureshi
Imran Khan the Chairman of
the political party “Pakistan Tehrik Insaf” (PTI) needs to urgently refurbish
his image that seems to have been tarnished as a result of the allegations of
sexual misconduct or exploitation by one of his erstwhile party member Aisha
Gulalai from South Waziristan.
Irrespective of the aspect
as to who is right and who is not, it is important that the competent
authorities should find the fact and probe these allegations leveled by Aisha
Gulalai an MNA and formerly a prominent member of PTI. Gulalai became
disgruntled for not allowed to speak in a public gathering as well being denied
the party ticket to contest for NA 1 seat of the National Assembly.
She alleged that Imran
Khan, the founder and president of the Pakistan Tehrik-e- Insaf had been making
indecent advances towards her by way of sending lewd and unethical text
messages. Besides he was urging here to meet him privately and alone, not even
in the company of his family members.
When asked as to why she
failed to report the alleged sexual harassment by Imran Khan earlier as per her
claim, she started receiving "inappropriate messages" since 2013; Ayesha
Gulalai conceded that “she only managed to summon the courage to spill the
beans now”.
Gulalai showed some
of the text messages to Hamid Meer, a famous journalist and the Geo News Anchor who
tacitly confirmed that the nature and tenor of the message seem to be unethical
and therefore merits an inquiry.
Gulalai claimed that these
foul messages were sent to him over a period of four years and she kept these
under the curtain for their being highly sleazy and for not picking up courage
to make these public. She is now ready to show these messages to the
appropriate authorities which can be a court of law.
Imran and his party
colleagues claim that Gulalai has
launched this defamation onslaught at the behest of his arch political rival
Nawaz Sharif and his other party members. Notwithstanding Imran’s claim of his
defamation by his political rivals, the case itself is of such a nature that
this must be taken into consideration by the relevant courts as Suo moto or
else if could be filed by Aisha Gulalai herself. Gulalai seems to be determined
to go to any forum to prove herself right and also show the text messages whose
number runs into several scores and were sent over a period of four
years.
Meanwhile, the Opposition
Leader in the National Assembly Syed Khurshid Shah said that the nature of the
allegations of MNA Ayesha Gulalai were very serious and need thorough
investigation. Jamaat-i-Islami has also demanded a judicial inquiry and praised
the courage of Madam Gulalai. JI leaders even invited her to join their party.
Senior politicians of mainstream
political parties of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa demanded a high-level investigation
into the allegations leveled by MNA Ayesha Gulalai against her party Chief
Imran Khan. PTI, in the meantime, has approached the relevant authority to
abolish her membership of the National Assembly.
We have been reading in
the past about Imran Khan and his free life style like a Casanova in England as
well in Pakistan. There are quite a few stories about the kind of his life
spent in England. But that was not objectionable as it was commensurate with
the culture of that country. Also, we have been hearing about his
life pattern in Pakistan which seems to be full of sound and fury that a single
or a divorced young man would prefer. He has divorced her two wives: one from
England and the other from Pakistan.
There are stories about
his association with Salahuddin the founder and host of Havely, a venue for
literary, poetic, musical and occasional fun filled parties. This is the age of
Facebook and U-tube. As such everyone is sitting in a glasshouse and therefore
the private and social life cannot remain hidden.
As long as having a normal
friendship and a possible offer of marriage with Aisha Gulalai who was also a
bachelor was in order. But the aspect of sending or trading filthy, sexy or
sex-tinged messages all the more to a female party member is certainly below
the dignity of even a common person; all the more by a politician of high
caliber.
Inviting Gulalai to meet
him alone and not with her family members is a dimension that makes one to
raise eyebrows and impel pondering as to what could be its purpose. However, if
the case is referred to a court of law, to an arbitrator, or any other
competent authority then the people might be able to know about the nature of
the messages and the real intentions behind those.
It is hoped that in the
meantime, Imran Khan may not delete the sent messages from his blackberry cell
phone. Even if he does then his challenger Madam Gulalai claims to have the
messages in her iPhone(blackberry) to prove her claim of moral indecency by her
former party chief Imran Khan.
In the meantime, the
female members of the PTI have rallied around their leader. They have condemned
Aisha Gulalai for hurling very serious and highly indecent charges and heaping
a plethora of immoral offences on a popular political figure of Pakistan.
Concurrently, Pakistan
Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has served a legal notice on Ayesha Gulalai. The
notice sent by PTI central media coordinator Javed Badar demanded Ayesha
Gulalai to provide evidence to support her allegations against the PTI chief
within 10 days or seek apology.
In the meantime, Imran
Khan has directed his party leaders and supporters not to target Gulalai’s
sister. Gulalai however, has claimed that she is being threatened by PTI
supporters. She added that if any harm comes to her or to her family, she will
hold Imran Khan responsible for it. In an interview Imran Khan alleged that
Ayesha Gulalai was used by the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz to trap and defame
him.
Gulalai also denied
allegations of corruption leveled against her by her former assistants Noor
Zaman and Mujahid Khattak who accused her of corruption in road construction
and other projects. Gulalai said that these individuals were never her
political assistants. Gulalai’s father has characterized Noor Khan as a person
of criminal intent and nature.
Ayesha Gulalai is highly
educated and belonged to a famous and respected Wazir Tribe.
No comments:
Post a Comment