LAHORE: Khawar Maneka’s explosive interview, in which he talked about his ex-wife Bushra Bibi, sparked a new round of political waves on Tuesday. PTI leaders questioned the morality of the claims, while the party’s opponents, mostly the PML-N, jumped at the chance to use the interview as yet another moral talking point.
In an interview that aired on a private news channel on Monday, Maneka blamed Imran Khan for the end of his marriage, even though Khan later married Bushra Bibi.The interview came just one week after Maneka was released on bail in a land-grabbing case. It was similar to talks that key aids to the PTI leader gave when they got out of different court cases.
Since then, PTI’s opponents have used the interview to make fun of the party, which has made the political fight between the two parties even worse.
“Against the culture of Pakistan”
Taimur Jhagra, a former minister for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, said that the interview made him feel “disgusted.” He said that asking ex-husbands about their women was against Pakistani culture.
He said that “sane and decent people all over the country” would agree with this.If most people in the country back Imran Khan, will it make a difference? Nothing at all. Is it really hurting the media’s reputation and the way the government works? “I’ll let you handle that,” he said.
In the same way, Imran’s lawyer, Sher Afzal Khan Marwat, said that the PTI chairman had “expressed great sadness over Maneka’s statement.””Through these means, we are not leading the country towards political stability and rule of law, but rather towards what only an enemy can do,” Marwat quoted Imran as saying.
“Meanwhile, Hammad Azhar, the leader of the PTI, slammed the interviewer: “An anchor who pretended to be an LNG (liquefied natural gas) expert for four years without knowing the basics of how to supply and price it is now doing a staged hostage show on the marital problems of ex-spouses.” Some people will go to great lengths to target Imran Khan because they are so desperate to do so.
“PTI head Babar Awan called the interview “scripted” and “lacking credibility,” saying it showed that the former premier’s enemies didn’t have any serious charges against him.The talk was called “disgraceful” by Zulfi Bukhari, the leader of the PTI.
“Imran should stop telling the story of Riyasat-e-Madine.”
Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, on the other hand, told Imran Khan not to use the “Riasat-e-Madina” story in his political campaigns after Bushra Bibi’s ex-husband made shocking claims.When asked if he thought Maneka’s statements showed Khan’s real face, Nawaz made it clear that he was talking about Imran’s use of the “Riasate-e Madina” story after the accusations were made against him.
Rana Sanaullah, the leader of the PML-N, said at a press meeting in Lahore when asked if he thought the interview was staged, “We have started a strange logic that whatever happens, someone is behind it.”Instead of looking into where the accusations came from, Sanaullah suggested that we look at what they say.
He said it again and again: “The focus should be on whether the claims are true or not.” If they’re wrong, they should be shown to be so. They have weight if proven true… The claims made are all true, according to what I have checked and learned.”Was there a single thing wrong with what Khawar Maneka said?” asked PML-N leader Javed Latif. Were they not all true? He should have said “all the way here before.”Uzma Bukhari, a spokesperson for the PML-N in Punjab, said that the claims made in the were not new. She also said bad things about the media and how the PTI responded to the conversation.
