• Home
• /
• World

Allegation of ‘immoral’ acts rocks Pakistan parliament

Members of both houses indignantly shelved debate on national security policy and asked Jamshed Dasti to provide credible evidence.

Rocked by sensational disclosure by one of their colleagues regarding alleged immoral activities in the parliamentary lodges, members of both houses, the Senate and the National Assembly, on Friday indignantly shelved debate on national security policy and asked Jamshed Dasti to provide credible evidence.
Speaker of the National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq also wrote a letter to member of Dasti, asking him to present proofs for his claims regarding parliamentary lodges becoming a “centre of immoral activities”.
Sadiq has asked Dasti to meet him in chamber on March 3 with all the evidence he has.
Speaking in the National Assembly, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan strongly repudiated Dasti’s claims and deplored the way he has tried to vilify the elected representatives of the people.
On Thursday, Dasti had stunned fellow parliamentarians when he said that liquor worth millions of rupees was supplied in the parliamentary lodges and that a pungent smell of hashish engulfs the area.
“Girls are brought in the lodges and dance parties (take place),” Dasti had alleged, claiming that he has evidence in the form of video footage of ‘mujras’ (lewd dances) taking place in the lodges.
There are 359 suites in the Parliamentary Lodges, 83 of which are reserved for members of the Senate, while the other 276 are for MNAs.
Addressing the National Assembly on Friday, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said that the allegations levelled by Dasti were baseless as it was not possible for the ‘immoral activities’ to go undetected in the parliamentary lodges because of the security apparatus installed there.
He also said there were 23 cameras in place at the entrance and exit points and it was impossible for such activities to take place.
Nisar further said that since respectable families of parliamentarians including children also live in these lodges, the ‘immoral activities’ cannot take place there.
Members in both houses decried Dasti’s allegations and said they were intrigued by the timing of his so-called disclosures which have diverted focus from more grave issues confronting the nation.
Stung by denunciations from fellow parliamentarians, Dasti told newsmen outside Parliament House he will present video footage and other proofs in support of his statement to the speaker on Monday.
He said he did not target any member but lamented that “nobody has the moral courage to face truth”. He alleged that somebody put an empty bottle of liquor outside his room to malign him.
news@khaleejtimes.com

• Pakistan