BLOG: Dear PTI, I told you so

When the news of Imran Khan and Reham Khan’s divorce hit the airwaves, PTI supporters were quick to accuse the media of crossing the line.

Imran requested privacy – which is his right – on twitter, after Reham announced the divorce on twitter as well.

Much has happened since the announcement, Imran reminded a journalist of his auqaat during a live press conference and then there was Reham’s comment about hitting sixes and sustaining a long-term partnership.

In my last rant on the issue I warned PTI that the media will highlight, dissect and discuss the reasons behind the breakup of the marriage and once they are done, they will do it all again some more – because that is just what the Pakistani media does.

What I did not expect was Imran, Reham and forces within the PTI to continue to fan the flame which will eventually burn their chadar of privacy – or any semblance that may have been left of it after the twitter announcements.

I don’t know if “Chairman Khan” asked his spokesperson to issue a statement on a PTI letterhead or whether she did so of her own accord; whatever the case may be she has made commenting on the matter even more kosher than it was before when the conversation was only a volley of tweets, jibes and Imran talking down and insulting a journalist.

It is difficult to understand what bubble the PTI spokesperson is living in, because Reham does not seem to be “going through a difficult personal time” at least by her ability to make public appearances.

Ok so she made a comment about hitting a six by ‘releasing’ a story – still doesn’t signal she’s going through a difficult time – and while some people say her whack was aimed at the media, I have difficulty digesting that a journalist with years of experience got the simple fact wrong about who releases a story; the media breaks, airs, broadcasts and publishes stories while sources release stories – I wonder what she was talking about Mr. Khan.


Let’s assume for a moment that her comments were for the media, if so, what kind of slow long sustaining partnership was she talking about? Did she mean the media should not get excited for just one day but continue to report on the split slowly, everyday? If so, she’s made sure of that.

A day before Reham’s six went out of the stands, Imran tried to bowl out a journalist during a press conference.

Analysts on TV were divided whether the journalist was out of line or whether “Chairman Khan” let the question get under his skin.

The journalist asked Imran, regarding his inability to judge people when picking team members, whether it was in his political or private life – because those he selects end up ditching him in the end.


In the reporter’s defence, we found out that a marriage was in the offing after an announcement was made from on top of a container and we learned of the divorce from a tweet (which has been retweeted over 4,750 times and has over 9,000 likes) why wouldn’t a journalist ask “Chairman Khan” if all the hullabaloo about him being such a master at picking team members was actually nothing but a figment of his own imagination?

I wish Imran had read my previous rant, or that somebody close to him had advised “Chairman Khan” to take cues from the example of the Pakistani starlet I had mentioned.

Maybe if he had, he wouldn’t have let the question get under his skin and reveal through his statement something that many observers already know.

Quite respectfully Mr. Khan, from that time on top of the container when someone accidentally bumped into you and we saw the fury that you almost unleashed, I knew something was terribly wrong.

They say when a woman starts to make more money than her husband, the marriage is doomed. I think the same rule applies when it comes to popularity as well.
Is it because #RehamKhan was trending worldwide and #ImranKhan wasn’t that “Chairman Khan” you and your party are hacking away – mostly at your own feet – demanding privacy through all the wrong channels?

Finally, Dear Ms. Mazari in future before you do a One, Two, Three on an official PTI letterhead, ask yourself this: Is my action going to make people laugh at the demand for leaving a private matter private? Or am I only fanning the flame, making sure the story can stay in the headlines a little while longer?




Ovais Jafar is a Multimedia Journalist, he tweets as @ovaisjafar

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author, and do not reflect the official policy or position of Geo News, The News or the Jang Group.