Jemima, sons opposed to Khan’s marriage: UK media

LONDON: “Newlywed” Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan has visited London to seek blessings of his former wife Jemima Khan and their two sons, British media has claimed.
While Imran Khan held talks with the Goldsmith family members, with whom he remained close, ten years after divorcing Jemima Khan, and also with his sons, Sulaiman Isa Khan, 18, and Qasim Khan, 15, the Daily Mail repeated its claims that Imran Khan had tied the knot with former BBC weather reporter and Pakistani anchor Reham Khan, despite opposition of family members.
It is believed that Imran Khan’s sons are not happy at the rumours of their father getting married in secrecy and members of Imran Khan’s family in Pakistan have either expressed their anger. However, Imran Khan himself has refused to deny the reports of his marriage stating that the reports of his marriage are “greatly exaggerated”.
Daily Mail said that Imran Khan had flown to London “to tell Jemima, the 40-year-old daughter of late billionaire Sir James Goldsmith, and their two sons about the new love in his life, Reham Khan”.
The paper said that Imran Khan’s “romance is said to have met with opposition from some members of his family and has become a highly contentious topic in Pakistan, where he is a leading politician”.
Daily Mirror said that Imran Khan was visiting London to explain to Jemima Khan and their sons “about his new wife Reham Khan” and all the circumstances around it.
Separately, Jemima Khan chose Imran Khan’s presence in London to publicly express her disapproval of her former husband’s reported marriage by thanking those on Twitter who admired Jemima Khan telling her that they considered her the ‘first lady’, that she was ‘irreplaceable’.
When a Twitter user wrote: ‘No one can take your place!’ Jemima replied: ‘Ahh. That’s lovely. Thank you x.’
Jemima said she was ‘really touched by these messages’ when a fan told her that ‘BBC weather lady is good but doesn’t match with Imran Khan calibre’.
Jemima Khan wrote ‘Thanks’ when a fan wrote to her ‘u r the first Lady of Pakistan’. A Pakistan fan wrote to her that ‘u r irreplaceable!’ and she replied ‘Thank you’.
One social media user wrote to her ‘If Khan is Pakistan’s King, you’ll forever be our queen. You have earned every bit of respect for yourself’. Jemima Khan replied to this tweet by saying ‘That’s v kind. Thank you x’.
Jemima has received such messages all the times but it’s only known that she had replied these messages publicly, carefully choosing the timing which clearly show that she is not happy at the latest development in the life of father of her two sons.
Three months ago Jemima Khan announced that she was ditching the Khan name because Imran was soon to remarry and that she would be changing to ‘Jemima Goldsmith’ also because her sons do not care anymore about her name.
Reham, 42, was married to a psychiatrist, the father of her three children. She lived in East London for part of her marriage.
Imran Khan’s sister, Aleema Khan has said Imran Khan was the victim of a smear campaign by political rivals. She said: “This is the only way they know how to attack him. These are the tactics they stoop to. I spoke to my brother a few days ago and it isn’t true. I don’t know if they are in a relationship. Here you are either getting married or you are not. We’d be extremely happy if he marries a good person and settles down. But it is not just his consideration, it’s a consideration for the country.”
The News is aware that Imran Khan spent two days privately in London being with his kids. When contacted by The News, PTI senior leader Jahangir Tareen, who is also in London, confirmed that Imran Khan had passed his time with his family and “no political or public meeting was held in any capacity”.
Imran Khan was set to leave for Pakistan from Heathrow Airport on Monday night with Jahangir Tareen and Awn Chaudhry. PTI sources have said that Imran Khan will hold talks with his party’s core committee members and following that an announcement about his marriage rumours will be made.
PTI leaders have remained quiet and have refused to make any public statements but off the record, they have leaked information to media.
They have referred to the statement made by Imran Khan in public that he intended to get married. “I want to say that I have publicly expressed my wish to remarry. However, marriage cannot be entered into lightly. Second marriages, especially, need to be considered carefully as children are involved,” said Imran Khan in a statement last week.