ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MNA Ayesha Gulalai on Tuesday parted ways with the party, alleging that the honour of mothers and sisters was not safe because of Chairman Imran Khan, whom she dubbed as a fake Pathan and a characterless person.
She urged the Supreme Court to take notice of this matter for the sake of honour of PTI females, as there were speculations that he might become the prime minister one day. At a crowded news conference here, Ayesha Gulalai slammed the PTI chief and his coterie and cautioned fathers and brothers about their females’ honour. She brushed aside the impression by the PTI leaders that she was angry because she was denied the ticket for NA-01 and speech at the thanksgiving event on Sunday.
She said her decision to quit the PTI had nothing to do with the case against Imran in the Supreme Court being heard. “The criterion for awarding party tickets is entirely different in the PTI,” she said.
Ayesha said she had the courage to come out against Imran and his clan, being a brave and courageous Pathan and honour was most important to her but was worried about others. “A respectable female worker cannot remain in the party,” she said and added that someone quipped they (PTI) would be forming the government. She alleged that Imran considered himself an angel but his conduct was highly indecent and referred to the alleged text messages, she had been receiving from him and the first one she got from Imran’s Blackberry in October 2013. She declined to read out the messages but asked journalists to contact the PTA in this context. Ayesha had made her way to the National Assembly on a reserved seat and announced not to quit the seat.
The legislator went on to say that Imran, whom she called a bit abnormal, was highly impressed by the Western culture, which he was part of for some time and wanted to replicate it here and added that at 67 years of age, his habits could not be changed.
“Their change is confined to social media while workers like me work on the ground, whom they call inferior workers. When I used to attend meetings, Imran gave tips on how to ridicule the rivals and target them,” she said.
She said that several KP ministers, Atif Khan, Shahram Khan and Shah Farman, MNAs and MPAs had pinpointed corruption of Chief Minister Pervaiz Khattak and his government and how he was giving contacts to his relatives and those being awarded to others, his son was the front man and received kickbacks. Ayesha explained she met Imran with a delegation recently to talk about the corruption of Pervaiz Khattak with regards to the party's Billion Tree Tsunami campaign, but Imran declined to pay any attention to the issue. She claimed that evidence of corruption and irregularities was put before Imran, who put them aside and charged, “may be he has been blackmailed by Khattak or his kitchen is run this way”. She said she would prefer to call Imran Niazi instead of Imran Khan, as he was a fake Khan. She recalled how she met Khattak along with a 50-member delegation of professors, regarding their grievances, whom the chief minister called 'ghundas' (hooligans).
The MNA alleged that all the relatives of Khattak were benefiting from his government and his son would pocket commission on giving jobs to people and transfers of government employees. She charged that then KP Ehtesab Commission DG General Hamid had also mentioned Tangi mining contract case and another one pertaining to Nowshera mining, involving billions.
Ayesha continued she had led delegation of rickshaw union president and vendors during talks with Imran the other day and highlighted their issues and how KP government was not paying compensation to them. The MNA said that Article 62 and 63 of the Constitution should also be applicable on moral turpitude.
She added that workers in the party had been protesting on several issues including corruption and the honour of women (not being safe in the party). “The atmosphere in the party does not support these things. The way PTI is portrayed is not the reality,” she claimed.
In a message on social media, Ayesha said, "due to immoral character of Imran Khan and the gang around him, calling PTI workers 'worthless' and 'chotay workers' and rampant corruption by Imran Khan's agent Pervaiz Khattak in KP, MNA Ayesha Gulalai Wazir has left PTI".
Replying to questions, she alleged that Imran sent her inappropriate text messages and he would advise females to also keep Blackberry so that messages could not be traced. “I have not left the party over the issue of NA-1. I have gone through mental agony due to the situation, emanating from indecent messages,” she said.
"I have been in PTI for a very long time and I tolerated the treatment for a very long time, I even stepped back and enrolled for a PhD course, because respectable women are not safe in PTI," she said.
She praised Nawaz Sharif as a respectable person, who is a family man and knows how to accord respect to females. Meanwhile, PTI spokesperson Fawad Chaudhry dubbed Ayesha Gulalai’s allegations against the party chairman another ‘Qatari letter like ploy’ this time to malign him.
“It appears to be a coordinated effort against Imran after they failed to buy JIT members. This time, females are being used, as the future of cases against Imran is obvious. He is not being disqualified,” he said in reaction to her news conference.
Fawad pointed out that while she talked about honour and Pakhtoon values, her sister played squash around the world, wearing nicker and asked where was their Pathan culture then. Ayesha’s utterances against Imran, he alleged, were nothing but total disregard. Fawad asserted as a first step, she should have relinquished her MNA seat.
Earlier, PTI’s senior leader and legislator Dr Shireen Mazari at a news conference, strongly refuted Ayesha Gulalai’s what she called extremely baseless, frivolous and unscrupulous allegations against Imran Khan.
Mazari condemned her attempt to hurl series of allegations against him without any base or reason. She said Imran always treated women with high respect, adding that no investigations in this regard are needed.
She said it was Imran and PTI, which gave political awakening and awareness to women and they for the first time turned up at PTI’s public meeting in Dera Ismail Khan and were in significant numbers at Mianwali rally.
Mazari claimed Ayesha wanted PTI ticket for NA-1, Peshawar and was now hurling accusations even though the decision about handing out tickets had not been finalised. Mazari noted that deputy speaker KP Assembly is a woman and in the upcoming political battle in NA-120, the PTI will field a woman candidate. Mazari said that she felt sympathy or her after watching her news conference, as she was being used and her strings were somewhere else.