LAHORE – Providing base to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders’ claims of alleged nexus between Reham Khan and Sharif family, the leaked content of former’s controversial book turned out to be the promotion of the embattled family at a time when 2018 general elections are around the corner.
The former wife of PTI chief Imran Khan is at the centre of the controversy since she announced to launch her upcoming autobiography titled ‘Rehma Khan’.
https://en.dailypakistan.com.pk/headline/reham-khan-met-maryam-nawaz-through-ahsan-iqbal-claims-pti-spokesman-fawad-ch/
The book, which is expected to hit the shelves in coming days, landed the former BBC presenter in trouble following startling revelations about her former husbands – Imran Khan and Dr Ijaz Rehman – former cricketer Wasim Akra and others. She has also been served with legal notices.
https://en.dailypakistan.com.pk/pakistan/waseem-akram-ijaz-rehman-zulfliqar-bukhari-and-anila-khawaja-send-defamation-notice-to-rehman-khan-over-controversial-book/
In the manuscript of the purported book, Reham disclosed the events when she interviewed former Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif, his son Hamza Shehbaz and daughter of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, Maryam Nawaz and found them down to earth.
Hamza A Polite Individual
Sharing her experience with Hamza, she wrote on page 233 of the leaked book, “In my interview with Hamza Shehbaz, I found him to be an extremely polite individual. Not only was he courteous to me, he braved the blunt attacks of my makeup lady”.
Maryam Has Strong Administrative Skills
Talking about the interview with Maryam, she said, “I was expecting a lady with all the airs and graces of being daughter of a powerful strong dynasty. But unlike the princess label she had been given by the PTI, she came across as a focused, time-conscious woman. She would get up and open the door herself to call her next appointment in, rather than ringing a bell, and stuck to allotted time”.
“Interestingly, we all thought …………….. Maryam had strong administrative skills similar to her uncle Shahbaz Sharif. She was operating the office with the discipline an army officer maintains”.
Comparing both cousins, she said: “While Hamza came across as a more laid-back and diplomatic politician who could connect because of his Awami appeal, Maryam was very direct and to-the-point, unlike most Pakistanis one would meet”.
She wrote, “None of us would really know how independent she would prove to be, until the post-Panama crisis that hit that family in 2017. But I felt the visceral hatred for this woman was undeserved”.
“She was not the ‘Pharoah’ that she had been labelled by people who had not met her,” Reham went on to say.
Shehbaz Sharif was Brisk, Clinical, and Professional
“PTI had labelled them as the ‘badshahs’ or the Kings. Shahbaz Sharif was portrayed in media as a man who was prone to getting married every so often to any attractive woman he laid his eyes on. With all that negativity, I marched into a tasteful parlour,” she shared.
“As we sat waiting for the CM to arrive, several people dropped in to say hello to the team. I was still in a bit of a daze, and was slow to register that some were his close family members. Their attitude was pleasant and down to earth”.
Explaining the moment when Shehbaz entered the interview room, Reham wrote: “The CM walked in with military precision………… He greeted me in a very brisk, professional manner. We sat down. The makeup artist attempted to take the shine off the CM’s face, but this man, with his silvery grey hair and unusually long fingers, dismissed him”.
“Besides tiny water breaks, the CM answered my questions for a straight 60 minutes. After the intense grilling which clearly showed my PTI tilt, we stood up. Before I could thank him, the CM surprised me by saying in a rather fatherly fashion, “Thank you. Very tough interview young lady but I appreciate it”.
Describing former CM’s personality, she said, “With that, he was gone. No sleazy overtures. No arrogance. He was just brisk, clinical, and professional to the core. The man was clearly a no-nonsense type who had pressing work engagements. As soon as he left, I heard people breathing again”.
Nawaz Sharif Known How to Respect Wife and Daughter
While separating ways with Khan, she said “There must be some good in Pakistanis. This country has been saved. My people have been saved And Allah has saved me. All this time, I prayed that you should get your wish and that we could have a baby, but I thank God today that I have been saved. And Nawaz might be a criminal…he might be corrupt. But you know why Allah has given him his place? Because he knows how to respect his wife and daughter”.
She wrote on page 551, “And I walked away from him, that rock, and the false promises forever”.
Talking about Nawaz’s strategy, the former wife of Imran Khan said, “As the years went by, I realised that Nawaz Sharif’s regional alignment strategy with Turkey and Central Asian countries was making him stronger, but he was becoming a threat to certain powers. The networking of the Sharifs had made them stronger than the planners at home”.
Imran Khan
In the much-hyped book, Reham Khan also portrayed Imran Khan in a bad light by saying that the cricketer-turned-politician smiled at ending the sit-in, ignoring the pain suffered by the victims of APS.
She also shared that Imran Khan’s sisters treated him as a commodity and the siblings did not maintain a relationship based on mutual respect.
