The son of former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani has responded to allegations by US columnist Cynthia Ritchie who has accused senior members of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) of rape and sexual assault.
Ali Haider Gilani, the younger son of former the prime minister, said he had filed a complaint against the Cyber Crime Wing of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) over “baseless allegations” against party leader late Benazir Bhutto.
2/4 first of all I would like to make it very clear that my father is a man of great integrity and has respected every women he ever met. I have never heard him even speak to a lady in a loud voice at home or outside. He is a champion of women’s rights and has always advocated
— Ali Haider Gilani (@ahaidergilani86) June 5, 2020
2/3 for women empowerment. @CynthiaDRitchie herself few months back 2019 on a public what’s app group had told me that she met my father few days back and he was a true gentleman and wanted to inquire about his health. I thanked her for remarks and told her he is doing good.
— Ali Haider Gilani (@ahaidergilani86) June 5, 2020
4/4 He after attacking ppp leadership has now attacked my father and we know why. Why didn’t she raised These serious allegations earlier why after 8 years? We have been taught to respect women and we will resort to any character assassination
— Ali Haider Gilani (@ahaidergilani86) June 5, 2020
Finally @CynthiaDRitchie I have received so many pictures and documents including your history in US and in Pakistan which was not difficult to find, But I will be giving you a final warning don’t let me forget ethics and become Rowdy Texan
— Ali Haider Gilani (@ahaidergilani86) June 5, 2020
He said this prompted the American columnist to level “filthy allegations” against his father.
“First of all I would like to make it very clear that my father is a man of great integrity and has respected every woman he ever met. I have never heard him even speak to a lady in a loud voice at home or outside. He is a champion of women’s rights and has always advocated for women empowerment,” said the younger Gilani.
He claimed that Cynthia Ritchie had herself told him a few months back in 2019 on a public WhatsApp group that “she met my father few days back and he was a true gentleman and wanted to inquire about his health.
Notably, Cynthia D. Ritchie has claimed that Rehman Malik, then Pakistani interior minister, raped her after lacing her drink with sedatives in 2011. She also accused former Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and former health minister Makhdoom Shahabuddin of physically manhandling her inside President’s House in Islamabad. Asif Ali Zardari was then President of Pakistan.
There is much more. But now I need a few days to rest and be alone with my fiance. I’m tired.
I ask the PPP leadership @BBhuttoZardari to tell its people to leave my family alone.
I will be ready to meet any and all investigators, as is required by law, as early as next week.
— Cynthia D. Ritchie (@CynthiaDRitchie) June 5, 2020
The Bilawal Bhutto Zardari-led party now faces allegations of serious misconduct as alleged by Cynthia D. Ritchie after the party filed a case against her for maligning the name of its assassinated leader Benazir Bhutto.
In a Facebook live video (available below) on Friday evening, the American blogger who has made Pakistan her second home, said, she was raped by former Interior Minister Rehman Malik and physically manhandled by former Health Minister Makhdoom Shahabuddin and former Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani.
She said she still has evidence that could prove her allegations and promised to come out with it as early as next week. “I will be happy to go into more detail with an appropriate, neutral, and investigative journalist,” she said.
