Trouble mounts for Imran Khan
Islamabad: A petition was on Wednesday filed with the Election Commission of Pakistan to disqualify opposition leader Imran Khan after a woman lawmaker from his party accused him of harassing her and other women leaders. The 64year-old cricketer-turnedpolitician faced heavy criticism and pressure to quit after Pakistan Tehreek-eInsaf (PTI) lawmaker Ayesha Gulalai in a televised press conference said he has been sending “inappropriate and explicit messages” to her and other women workers of the party. A day earlier, as she announced to part ways with the PTI, Ms Gulalai accused Mr Khan and his “gang” of having an “immoral character”.
A petition was filed with the Election Commission of Pakistan on Wednesday to disqualify Opposition leader Imran Khan after a woman lawmaker from his party accused him of harassing her and other women leaders.
Raja Basharat Mehmood, a lawyer, filed an application before the ECP, calling for the disqualification of Mr Khan.
According to the application, Mr Khan should be disqualified from the National Assembly membership and by-election should be held in NA-56.
On Tuesday, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) lawmaker Ayesha Gulalai Wazir, who quit the party, accused Mr Khan of having an “immoral character”. She alleged that the PTI chief “would forward inappropriate and explicit text messages to party women”. She claimed that she received the first such message in 2013. She claimed many other female members also received those messages. She said Mr Khan keeps a Blackberry and asks female members of the party to also carry a Blackberry so that messages could not be traced.
On Wednesday, the party’s women wing termed the allegations as an attempt at cheap publicity.
They asked Ms Wazir to seek forgiveness over the baseless allegations or else jirga (a tribal council) would be sent to her home.
“Imran Khan respects all women and as far as text messages are concerned, he does not own a blackberry. These accusations have hurt sentiments of PTI workers,” she added.
Ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Hanif Abbasi demanded that Mr Khan should be immediately disqualified.