Gulalai says will forgive Imran if he apologises

• Lawmaker says she will present evidence before parliamentary committee

Member of National Assembly (MNA) and former Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Ayesha Gulalai has said that she will forgive PTI Chairman Imran Khan if he accepts his mistake and apologises for sending her unsolicited text messages that she says caused her considerable mental distress.

“If he (Imran) accepts that he has done it and seeks forgiveness from Almighty Allah, the nation and its women, I will forgive him,” a private TV channel quoted her as saying. She said that she would present all evidence if summoned by the parliamentary committee, formed to probe allegations by her against the PTI chairman.

On Thursday, Gulalai had announced that she was quitting the PTI, levelling a series of scathing allegations against the PTI chairman and his former party colleagues, including that they used to send inappropriate text messages to female members of the party.

She claimed that she had informed her father that Imran had asked her to meet alone. She said that she went along with her father and brother to meet Imran, which irked him. Gulalai said that her father had asked Imran regarding what he wanted, but the PTI chairman dodged the question.

“I am ready to sit in front of Imran and can confront him on the obnoxious messages that he sent. He put me through mental torture and pain,” she said. She reiterated that Imran had sent her the first inappropriate message in 2013. On Friday, the PTI spokesperson rejected the demand for a bi-partisan parliamentary committee to probe Gulalai’s allegations.

Both the Pakistan People’s Party and the Pakistan Muslim League-N backed Gulalai and called for an investigation into the matter. Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi also assured the provision of round-the-clock security for the lawmaker after she claimed that she was scared for her life.