Nothing to do with politics: Jemima

LONDON: Imran Khan's first wife Jemima Goldsmith shared a poster of a protest against Khan scheduled to take place on April 17 outside her house in the UK.

"Protests outside my house, targeting my children, antisemitic abuse on social media. It's almost like I'm back in 90s Lahore," she tweeted on Friday.

Meanwhile, Jemina Goldsmith and renowned journalist Hamid Mir engaged in a rare public spat on Twitter on Friday with the former saying that she and her children have nothing to do with politics in Pakistan.

She said this in response to a tweet earlier posted by Mir. “PTI must stop protesting outside the house of Nawaz Sharif in London and PML-N should not do the same outside the house of Jemima Khan," the journalist had said.

He further said that those who live in glass houses should not throw stones on others. Mir’s tweet didn’t go down well with Jemima. “With respect, the difference is that I have got nothing to do with Pakistani politics and neither have my children. They are low- key private individuals who are not even on social media,” she wrote in response to Mir’s tweet.

Mir, in another tweet, replied to Jemima: "You have a point but 'polarised' people may not understand." The journalist also pointed out that Sulaiman Khan, son of Imran Khan, campaigned for his uncle Zac Goldsmith against Sadiq Khan in UK but stayed away from Pakistani politics.

To this, Jemima urged Mir to 'stop'. "This was his holiday job. He was a teenager," she added. Earlier in the day, Jemima said that she was having a terrifying déjà vu as supporters of her former husband’s political rivals started targeting her children with antisemitic slurs.

She recounted the antisemitic attacks she had faced during her stay in Pakistan as she shared the poster of a protest being planned outside her London residence on April 17. “Protest outside my house, targeting my children, antisemitic abuse on social media... It’s almost like I’m back in the 90s Lahore,” Jemima tweeted with #PuranaPakistan, in her first social media reaction after the toppling of Khan’s government.

Lord Tariq Ahmad, Minister of State Foreign Commonwealth & Development Affairs, in the cabinet of Prime Minister Boris Johnson, sprang to her defence. “The right to protest is something we protect in the UK – but to target children and resort to antisemitic abuse is vile and unacceptable,” tweeted Lord Tariq.