After harassment videos: PTI reschedules Faisalabad jalsa to May 20

Imran calls Lahore incidents part of ‘conspiracy’

ISLAMABAD:

After emergence on social media videos showing incidents of sexual harassment at its recent rallies, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Wednesday rescheduled its upcoming Faisalabad rally as it called these incidents ‘pre-planned’ and part of ‘a conspiracy’.

At the PTI rally in Islamabad on April 24 a stampede-like situation was witnessed after a section of the PTI’s male activists forced their way into a women’s section by breaching a security cordon and sexually harassed a number of women.

The same situation was repeated on May 1 in Lahore when PTI held its rally in connection with its protest movement, announced against the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) led federal government in the wake of Panama Papers revelations.



The PTI chief Imran Khan on Wednesday announced to reschedule the party’s Faisalabad rally for May 20. The rally was earlier scheduled for May 8. In an official statement, Imran alleged that suspects who attacked women at his party’s rally in Islamabad “appeared to be goons let loose by the PML-N”.

Calling these attacks ‘pre-planned’ and a ‘conspiracy’, Imran said he had lost all trust in the Punjab police, which, he said, failed to protect women at the rally. He also referred to the PTI’s 126-day sit-in in 2014 and said all families and women remained unhurt and no such incident took place at the time.

“Women have been an integral part of the PTI rallies and jalsas, including the one in Mianwali where women came out for the first time for a political rally,” he said. Following reports of sexual harassment against women at the rally in the capital, the PTI had constituted a committee to investigate the issue.

The committee – led by the PTI Information Secretary Naeemul Haq and comprising Talat Naqvi, Nafisa Inayat Khattak and Col (retd) Younas – was asked to compile its report within one week. However, following the repetition of harassment incident, the panel is likely to take more time.

Nisar’s offer

Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan on Wednesday offered to form a committee consisting opposition and media persons to probe the harassment with NADRA to help identify the culprits.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 5^th, 2016.