Gulalai put on notice in defamation suit over harassment allegations

LAHORE: A session court on Saturday issued notice to former Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) member, MNA Ayesha Gulalai to respond to a defamation case against her for levelling harassment allegations at party chief Imran Khan.

PTI leader Javed Badar has taken Gulalai to the court for failing to apologize or pay Rs30 million for seeking to ‘tarnish the reputation of the party chief by accusing him of harassing party women.’

The court issued notice to the estranged PTI member to submit her reply in the case until Oct 16.

The PTI leader through his counsel submitted that the woman lawmaker was served a notice to either prove her accusations or apologize, otherwise she will be sued for Rs 30 million damages, but she failed to respond.

Gulalai levelled allegations against Khan, PTI secretary general Jehangir Tareen, and other party leaders, but did not substantiate her accusations by producing corroborative evidences, he said and added she had demanded a ticket for contesting election in the 2018 general elections and on refusal, she stooped to accusations.

The court was pleaded to direct her to apologise for levelling baseless accusations and pay Rs 30 million for causing damages to the reputation of the party leaders.

Gulalai caught widespread attention after a press conference last month accusing the PTI chairman of misogyny and sending inappropriate text messages, the charges the party had vehemently denied and termed it a ploy of the PML-N.

Last week, the PTI sent her a final notice to explain her actions and decided to expel her from the party. The party also wrote to the ECP to strip her reserved seat in the National Assembly as she was no longer a part of the PTI.