ISLAMABAD - Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) on Wednesday said Imran Khan-like people force the women in the country to remain indoors.

Speaking to journalists here, PPP’s Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Khurshid Shah said that claims of harassment by lawmaker Ayesha Gulalai Wazir against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan had raised many eyebrows.

“This is the reason why the women prefer to stay at home. They don’t contribute to nation building and try to save their honour. Imran Khan-like people force them to remain indoors,” Shah said.

Ayesha Gulalai Wazir, a member of the National Assembly, had alleged the PTI women members were not safe from “Imran Khan and his gang” as they did not respect the women. She claimed Imran Khan sends “indecent” text messages to female members of the party.

Wazir said that she had received the first “indecent” message from Imran Khan in October 2013.

“He uses Blackberry phone and encourages the female members [of the PTI) to use Blackberry so that messages cannot be traced,” she maintained.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) was also moved on Wednesday to disqualify Imran Khan over Ayesha Gulalai Wazir’s allegations.

A citizen, Raja Basharat Mehmood, filed an application before the ECP, seeking Khan’s disqualification.

The Supreme Court too is hearing the disqualification case against Imran Khan for concealing his assets and the “foreign funding” of the PTI.

A three-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar and comprising Justice Umar Ata Bandial and Justice Faisal Arab, is hearing the petition by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Hanif Abbasi.

Khurshid Shah said that it was unfortunate that the women were not safe in the PTI and were coming out in public to discuss the harassment by the party leadership.

“Ayesha Gulalai Wazir’s case is not an ordinary one. It is a criminal case. This should be seriously investigated or the women will lose their confidence to join any profession,” the PPP leader said.

About Shahid Khaqan Abbasi’s election as the prime minister, Shah said that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) made a mockery of the parliament by inviting party activists who tried to hijack the proceedings.

“The speaker [Ayaz Sadiq] demonstrated partiality by ignoring the noisy PML-N workers and the lawmakers who displayed Nawaz Sharif’s pictures inside the house,” he added.

Shah said that Nawaz Sharif had been disqualified by the Supreme Court and there was no justification to wave his pictures in the National Assembly. We never brought the pictures of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto or Benazir Bhutto in the house. The speaker should take a strict notice,” he argued.

The PML-N workers chanted slogans in favour of Nawaz Sharif, who was ousted as the premier last week by the Supreme Court for hiding assets, as the members voted to elect the new prime minister last day.  The PML-N lawmakers also carried Nawaz Sharif’s portraits in the National Assembly.

PML-N’s Shahid Khaqan Abbasi won the election with ease garnering majority of the votes, while the PPP, the PTI and Jamaat-e-Islami’s nominees could only win 47, 33 and four votes respectively.

Abbasi received support from 221 members.

Khurshid Shah criticised the government for not reducing the fuel rates in accordance with the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra)’s recommendations.

“The imposed seven per cent tax on diesel and three per cent on petrol to enhance revenue but refused to give relief to the people on Ogra’s recommendations. This is strange. This government is robbing the nation,” he alleged.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, former federal minister Makhdoom Shahbuddin met PPP chief Bilawal Bhutto Zardari here and discussed the political situation, a PPP statement said. Faryal Talpur was also present during the meeting.

Earlier, on Wednesday, the PPP awarded ticket for the Senate by-election from Sindh to Barrister Murtaza Wahab on the seat that fell vacant after Senator Saeed Ghani’s resignation.

Ghani won a Sindh Assembly by-election from Karachi and quit the Senate last month.

Syed Najmi Alam will be the covering candidate in this by-election of the party.  The by-election is scheduled on August 17.