Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has ordered
a probe against three top officials of the National Assembly
Secretariat for allegedly harassing a lady MNA during
a trip of the parliamentarians to Paris on October 6.
The lady MNA of Millat Party, Gul-e-Farkhanda,
met the prime minister last week and handed him over a
letter describing details of her alleged harassment and
humiliation by Additional Secretary Mohammad Rafiq (Administration),
Director General International Relations Feroz Khan and
Deputy Director Protocol Nasim Khalid.
Rafiq was given extension in his service
by NA Speaker Ch Amir Hussain recently. The lady MNA met
the prime minister after the speaker showed reluctance
to proceed against three top officers of his Secretariat.
The MNA in her letter said that after departure from Brussels
for Germany on October 6, demeaning and degrading treatment
was meted out to her by three officials.
The MNA said she was told by Mr Nasim
that Feroz Khan and Ch Rafiq will look after her in Paris
and all will stay at a hotel, owned by Mr Gulzar, to which
Deputy Director Amir Khan had earlier invited the MPs.
She said when she mentioned it to Feroz
Khan and Mohammad Rafiq during train journey to Paris,
both said, "we don’t know any Gulzar Khan."
She said Feroz Khan repeatedly said: "Why was I intent
on staying alone with Gulzar at his hotel?" This,
she said, was a direct attack on my character.
"Feroz said that I was making a tamasha,
and also uttered other foul things to which MNA Gulzar
is a witness," she said. The lady MNA said Feroz
Khan also admonished her for writing an article in daily
Jang in favour of General Musharraf’s continuation
as army chief and used strong language against the government,
General Musharraf and her.
She said Rafiq did nothing to stop his
subordinate Feroz Khan from uttering all kinds of ‘foul
things’. The lady MNA said she was left alone in
Paris from October 6 to 8. She said it was with great
difficulty that she managed to find her way out of the
French city where English language is not understood by
the majority of the population.
She alleged that Rafiq even refused to
provide him telephone numbers of the Pakistani embassy
in Paris. She said Nasim was involved in tiles business
as he had taken a stock of tiles with him and because
of those tiles, the MNAs had to wait at Heathrow airport
for two hours.
She said her Toshiba Camera had also been
stolen at Heathrow airport because of Nasim who was busy
getting his tiles cleared from the customs. She said Nasim
avoided his duty as instead of staying with the visiting
parliamentarians for which purpose he was taken abroad,
he left them on the mercy of Rafiq and Feroz. She alleged
that Nasim even did not bother to get her dollars converted
into Euros.
She said Feroz had even asked her to go
and file an adjournment motion and do whatever she liked
to do as nobody could touch him. The MNA said it amounted
to direct attack on the prestige of the National Assembly.
When contacted by The News, lady MNA Gul-e-Farkhanda
said she was given a firm assurance by Prime Minister
Shaukat Aziz of action against the accused officials.
She said she was waiting for the outcome and if no action
was taken, she would not only move a privilege motion
against these officers but also hold a press conference
to inform the people about the incident.
She claimed that at least six other female
MNAs of the ruling party were harassed in a similar fashion
by the National Assembly Secretariat officers during foreign
trips in the past but they remained tight lipped. But,
she said, she has decided to break her silence and bring
all such corrupt officers to the task.
When contacted by The News, Additional
Secretary Rafiq denied the charges leveled against him.
"I can’t even think of it," he remarked.
When pressed further, he said he would not say anything
more. Feroz and Nasim were not available for comments.
