Allegation against Imran

If an elected prime minister can be sent home for not being “honest and amen”, someone who aspires to take that slot should be checked against charge of being immoral and not being one who “abstains from major sins”. I am talking here of the charge levelled by Ayesha Gulalai, a lawmaker from tribal areas elected on reserved seat of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf against her party chief Imran Khan. She had said the PTI chief - who she refused to recognize as ‘Khan’ being what she alleged to be “characterless” - had been sending her “inappropriate and explicit” text messages. The first message she received in October 2013. She refused to share the text of these messages, asking the media to check them from the Imran Khan’s Blackberry and get details from telecom regulator PTA. The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf therefore owes it to the people in general and its party workers in particular to come clean on these allegations. The party workers were reported to be “stunned” by the allegations, and are trying to figure out why she fell out with the party leadership. This may have a local political context now that there are emerging signs of revolts against the Pervez Khattak-headed government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. But the kind of charge she made against Imran Khan is not what a woman member would do, much less someone from conservative tribal areas, unless these are provable. She should be branded an opportunist and to say grapes are sour for her that is not enough; they stick. After all, somewhere it is on record what she alleged. It would be in the PTI’s own interest that it should hold an in-depth inquiry into the Gulalai’s assertions and if found untrue, take legal action against her. And if not, the great Khan must come on stage and make an apology, not only to her but also to his party workers and sympathizers.

ISLAMABAD SIKANDAR RAZA