Speaking on the first programme of her new show, former national bhabi Reham Khan took to task all the journalists who had spoken about her marriage and subsequent divorce.
I didn’t even know that he existed, she said of one senior journalist, to which her guest Mehr Tarar replied that she did, in fact, know the gentleman in question and perhaps accusation of using Reham’s name to get famous are not in order.
Also present was Orya Maqbool Jan, who said that modern Pakistani journalism has become like a cheap courtesan, which will do anything for attention. Surprising words for a man generally associated with dumbing every issue down to trite aphorisms. And one who is himself in the news media, albeit illegally since serving civil servants aren’t allowed to be pundits.
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It appears that Imran Khan wasn’t invited to India for the conclave held by an Indian group of newspapers, but managed to wrangle out an invitation himself. Who would have thought the great Khan would one day be seen asking to be invited to functions?
In any case, a good deal for the organisers, because a crowd-puller the man certainly is. He cut quite a figure at the event and put his suited-booted western face on, choosing to talk about his desire for peace with India. The problem: being confronted by journalists reading out statements by the PTI’s hawk-in-residence Shireen Mazari. But she’s not the party’s foreign affairs chief, he pleaded, she is only the party’s… umm… chief spokesperson.