ISLAMABAD: Amidst a noisy protest by the members of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI)in the National Assembly on Monday, party dissident Aaisha Gulalai alleged that she and her f amily had been receiving death threats in the wake of her outburst against party chairman ImranKhan.

`If you are in the PTI, thenyou are a good person.

But as soon as you leave the party, you will start receiving threats of acid attacks and murder,` said Ms Gulalai, who made head-lines last week when she levelled harassment allegations against Mr Khan and went public with her decision to quit the party.

However, she was adamant that she would not leave her seat.

Elected on a women`s reserved seat from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the MNA from Waziristan had accused Mr Khan and his`gang` of having an `immoral character`.

She had also alleged that Mr Khan would forward inappropriate and explicit text messages to her and other party women.

The former PTI leader had come to the lower house for the first time since mak-ing the accusations.

When Ms Gulalai entered during Question Hour, PTI chief whip Dr Shireen Mazari raised a point of order, drawing the attention of Deputy Speaker Murtaza Javed Abbasi towards Ms Gulalai`s presence in the house and asking him to take action against `a stranger in the house`.

Ms Mazari said that Ms Gulalai had publicly announced her decision to quit the party, and therefore was no longer a member of the house.

The deputy speaker, however, claimed that she was a member of the house under the rules and advised Ms Mazari to read the relevant constitutional provision.

As soon as Ms Gulalai finished her speech, she was hugged by women from the Pakistan Muslim LeagueNawaz and the Pakistan Peoples Party. Another PTI dissident, Musarrat Ahmadzeb, was also seen expressing solidarity with Ms Gulalai and praising her for making the speech.

Though she did not mention the alleged text messages and harassment allegadonsinherspeechonthe floor of the house, she indirectly attacked her former party boss, saying that `a leader`s character is paramount`.

`If character is lost, everything is lost,` she said, alleging that she was being victimised for telling the truth.

She said that she had done what NGOs working for women`s rights had not been able to do, by giving a voice to women facing exploitation.

`Imran Khan is not a god,` she exclaimed when PTI members kept thumping their desks and asking her to declare that she had lef t PTI on the house floor.

But backed by women legislators from nearly all other parties, particularly the ruling PML-N, Ms Gulalai accused PTI leaders of normalising the use of abusive language in politics.

She alleged that a provincial minister of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government, along with armed accomplices, had ransacked the welfare hospital run by her sister. She also regretted that PTI leaders had started targeting her sister, who played squash at the international level and was known as a peace ambassador.

`But despite all this, my family and I are not afraid,` she declared.

She also alleged that corruption was rampant in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, saying that the provincial accountability commission, set up with the taxpayer money, had been dormant.

`Imran Khan always says that accountability should start from big fish. Why is it not happening in KP?` she asked.

Ms Gulalai also thanked PPP chairman Bilawal BhuttoZardari, the Jamaat-i-Islami and other parties for their support.

She also announced that she would move a privilege motion against PTI members for calling her `a stranger in the house`.

Ms Gulalai`s speech and PTI`s reaction overshadowed other important business of the house, which also witnessed the presentation of the report of the Parliamentary Committee on Electoral Reforms, besides the introduction of five bills and four reports.

Speaking to reporters outside Parliament House, Ms Gulalai welcomed the formation of a parliamentary committee on the matter, saying that all the facts would be placed before it.