Jemima, Maryam in war of words over children

ISLAMABAD: In the latest turn of events in the war of words between Prime Minister Imran Khan and PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz, which drew in the premier's ex-wife Jemima Goldsmith at one juncture, Maryam said to Jemima "you have only your ex to blame".

The chain of events began with Prime Minister Imran Khan criticising how the poor are jailed in Pakistan and the powerful "get an NRO and go abroad and watch their grandson play polo", during an address to an election campaign rally in Bhimber, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Geo News reported.

It was a jibe at Nawaz Sharif who recently went to watch a polo match played by his grandson and Maryam Nawaz's son, Junaid Safdar, in the English town of Windsor. At this, Maryam responded during her own AJK rally by saying Junaid Safdar is "Nawaz Sharif's grandson, not Goldsmith's".

"He's Nawaz Sharif's grandson. He's not being raised in the lap of Jews," Maryam said.

Jemima, in response, said: "I left Pakistan in 2004 after a decade of antisemitic attacks by the media and politicians."

The premier's ex-wife said that at the time she had been receiving weekly death threats and protests outside her house in the country.

She regretted that despite the passage of over 16 years, such antisemitic attacks against her were still continuing.

At this, Maryam, in her latest tweet, replied by saying: "I have absolutely no interest in you, your sons, or your personal lives because I have better things to do and say but if your ex drags in families of others out of spite, others will have nastier things to say. "You have only your ex to blame," she added.