Pakistan Today Editor Arif Nizami has rejected Reham Khan’s claims that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Secretary General Jehangir Tareen was responsible for the collapse of her marriage with party chairman Imran Khan.
Talking in his talk show DNA on Channel 24, Nizami said that Tareen had good relations with Reham Khan and he could not be blamed for deteriorating relations between the couple.
“Some people have also claimed in media that Tareen was my source of information and had leaked the news of the souring relations between the couple while the fact of the matter is that even though Tareen is my close friend, he has never shared any such details with me,” he said.
“Tareen is a responsible office-bearer of the party and if Imran Khan shared any information regarding Reham Khan’s financial dealings with him and sought his advice, then he would have surely kept the party’s best interests in mind while advising the chairman.”
Nizami also questioned the timing of the ‘clarification’ released by PTI leader Shireen Mazari, saying it was a mystery why she had issued a statement almost a week after reports relating to the divorce surfaced in the media.
The senior journalist said that Mazari had first rejected his information that the couple’s marriage was on the verge of collapse but she was now issuing statements confirming the same news.
“Mazari has also said in her statement that Reham had never hit Imran Khan. I never said that Reham had slapped Imran Khan or hit him with a stick… what I meant to say was that she had a violent temperament. It’s not just men who resort to domestic violence, women can be equally violent in marriage,” he said, adding that a female TV anchorperson had tweeted that when she questioned Reham Khan about her violent temperament, Reham did not offer any clarification.
“At least Reham did not lie like Mazari.”
Nizami also rejected Mazari’s statement that media should not interfere in the private lives of the couple, saying that public figures’ personal lives are always a subject in the media. “Moreover, why did Imran Khan make his decision to marry Reham public in media if he was so particular about keeping his personal life away from public attention,” he said.
Nizami revealed that he had requested Reham Khan to appear in his talk show and speak her heart out on the controversies surrounding her failed marriage.
“As for Imran Khan, I think he needs a break from the situation. He might go to London to spend time with his children or they might visit Pakistan but as for now, his sister has moved in with him and is looking after the household affairs at Bani Gala,” he said.
