PTI female members face constant harassment within party: Ayesha Gulalai

“It is my integrity that matters to me the most,” the MNA from South Waziristan told reporters. “I cannot compromise when it comes to my honour and dignity.”

She alleged that women working with the party received obscene text messages, and she could not put up with this any longer.

Taking a jibe at PTI chief Imran Khan, she said he suffered from “psychological problems” and “gets jealous of, people who are better than him.”

Gulalai refuted reports that she will be joining the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz. “No matter what the charges against him, Nawaz Sharif knows how to respect women,” she said.

The lawmaker said the K-P Chief Minister Pervez Khattak acts like a mafia boss. “Khattak has nepotism in place, with his relatives being benefited.”

Gulalai clarified that she did not meet Imran for three hours, saying she met with him for just 15 minutes and, that too, with a delegation. “When I went to Imran and provided him evidence of Khattak’s corruption, he put all of it aside.”

Earlier, addressing a news conference, senior PTI leader Shireen Mazari said Aisha Gulalai had humiliated all members of the party, saying Imran Khan had done nothing wrong. She went on to add that “whoever wants to leave the party, may go ahead.”

A commotion was witnessed during the news conference as Mazari responded to a journalist saying “the PTI workers attend party’s public meetings to listen to Imran Khan, not to stare at women.”

The journalist had asked Mazari if the party’s supporters come to the gatherings to stare at other women activists there.

Earlier on Tuesday, the National Assembly elected Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, the petroleum minister in Sharif’s cabinet, as the new PM after the Supreme Court deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif and disqualified him from holding a public office for hiding assets in his nomination papers for the 2013 general elections.

The parliamentary party of PML-N named Sharif’s younger brother, Shahbaz Sharif, as his successor over the weekend, but he must first enter parliament by contesting the seat left vacant by Sharif.