Jemima recalls her bad experiences in Pakistan

Jemima Khan, the ex-wife of Pakistani cricketer-turned politician Imran Khan, has recalled some of her not-so-happy experiences in Pakistan when she was there.

London, Dec 3 : Jemima Khan, the ex-wife of Pakistani cricketer-turned politician Imran Khan, has recalled some of her not-so-happy experiences in Pakistan when she was there.

In a Sunday Telegraph article, Jemima remembered rather bitterly that during the 1997 election campaign, Imran was widely accused of being part of a Zionist conspiracy because of his marriage to a person "with a Jewish father and Jewish maiden name."

She recalled that during the 2004 election campaign she had said in an interview that she had studied Salman Rushdie's book "Shame" for her university thesis on post-colonial literature.

"A mob of crazed (and politicised) mullahs allied to the party created by Pervez Musharraf, the PML (Q), insisted that this admission was tantamount to apostasy, that my citizenship be revoked, and that I be thrown out of the country.

They took out full-page newspaper ads, inciting people to riot outside our home. Bearded fundos took to the streets with placards bearing my name (misspelt) and the word "infidel". In both cases, religion was used to justify what were, in fact, political attacks," she added.

Jemima said that in 1998, the Nawaz Sharif's Government falsely accused her of smuggling antiques - a non-bailable offence.

"I'm afraid I scampered before I could be arrested and only returned to Pakistan six months later, once there had been a military coup and the charges against me had been dropped," she mockingly recalled.

Jemima said that earlier in 1997 Benazir Bhutto had alluded to claims of Imran being a part of Zionist conspiracy on national television.

"My then-husband had an untarnished political record, but a wife with a Jewish father and a Jewish maiden name was his Achilles heel. A bogus cheque for 40 million pounds, supposedly from my father to fund Imran's campaign, appeared in all the Pakistani newspapers," she recalled.

"The fact that Imran failed to win a single seat, partly thanks to the smear campaign, put paid to the accusation. Imran experienced all the disadvantages of marrying a girl with money and, being a proud, self-sufficient type, none of the advantages," Jemima remembered.

Jemima said, "religion has often been used in Muslim countries for political ends."

ANI