My political victimisation

My official residence at Parliament Lodges in Islamabad has been sealed off for the past three days. I have no access to my personal belongings or official papers and am unable to serve my people effectively as an MNA.

Who is behind this? Two senators from Balochistan who have no respect for rule of law or for women — the deputy chairman of the Senate, Jan Jamali, and Senator Humayun Khan. Despite the legal allotment of the lodge to me by the National Assembly on January 15, 2009 and my occupancy since, they have tried trespassing once in August 2009 and now in November 2010.

When Senator Humayun (who has a parallel claim to the lodge because the Senate has allocated him the same one) tried entering my flat, I was not in Islamabad. My staff had to face 30 armed men. I complained and a meeting was held between Jan Jamali and the deputy speaker of the National Assembly. They resolved the matter and I was to continue living in my lodge. A year passed and on November 6, at a notice of three hours, I was served an eviction notice by the Senate.

My lodge was trespassed while I was in Nawabshah. Armed men entered my bedroom and study, threatened two staff members with arrests, took away their mobiles and kicked them out. Mr Jamali handed over possession of the lodge to Senator Humayun. It is not a Baloch custom, nor a Pakistani one, to walk into a woman's living quarters forcibly. Senator Humayun sat on my sofa till my father arrived and left after agreeing to resolve the matter with me on November 9. On November 8, a meeting was held and it was decided that I would continue staying in my lodge and that Senator Humayun would get another lodge from an MNA who had two lodges in his possession.

In this entire drama, the most hilarious accusation made against me was that I am never present in my lodge and run an office from there. How many days I spend in Islamabad and how many in the rest of the country, serving my people, is my business. Secondly, I do parliamentary work in my official residence and don't run yoga classes! It is now the morning of November 9 (as I write this). I still don't have my lodge back. I have a Supreme Court flood petition tomorrow, papers and evidence of which are in the lodge. Pending parliamentary work from all provinces is on hold.

They have succeeded in cutting my wings in terms of serving my people by taking away my official residence. Let's see how long this political victimisation continues. Clearly, after this incident we have lost the sanctity and security of the parliamentarians’ residences. The prime minister has assured me of his support — I await justice.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 10^th, 2010.