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Jemima's miss-know-it-all gait annoys Pakistanis
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February 21, 2008 19:37 IST

Though Jemima Khan [Images], the glamorous former wife of cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan [Images], never ceases to be a subject of drawing room conversations, Pakistanis are getting tired of her miss-know-it-all attitude.

Her interview with President Pervez Musharraf, a significant part of which was later denied by the President's spokesperson, and her simplistic deconstruction of 'all things Pakistan' is increasingly making her a hate-subject in the country.

"Ms Khan's diatribe against Ms Bhutto is a reflection of her contempt for the Pakistanis whom she met and whom she variously labelled the 'fain-fain crowd' and 'Mummy-Daddy types' in articles she wrote for local and British newspapers when she was still Imran Khan's devoted, dupatta-clad wife," a recent editorial in the Daily Times said.

"So, standing on her high moral pedestal, what does Jemima Khan think of Eurotrash like Hugh Grant [Images] (of LA black hooker fame), and other friends and family whose serial infidelities and drinks/drug abuse are legion?

"What was Jemima Khan doing in Pakistan with that demure dupatta on her head, writing sanctimonious articles in the press about her great conversion to Islam? It did not take the same woman long to throw off her hijab and cavort in skimpy bikinis on French beaches with her man of the moment," the edit said.

Jemima, who jokingly calls herself a 'serial protester', is currently in Pakistan with her two sons to observe the election process. She is a bitter critic of slain former premier Benazir Bhutto [Images] and her widower Asif Ali Zardari, whom she often refers to as 'Mr 10 per cent'.

She has also accused PML-N leader and former premier Nawaz Sharif of trying to have her 'jailed on trumped-up, politically motivated charges of smuggling a non-bailable offence in Pakistan'.

Jemima is also anti-Musharraf. In London [Images], she joined protests against Musharraf and called him 'a dictator, despot, guardian of the West against Al Qaeda' [Images].

'Under his regime, in the past year, Imran has been held under house arrest, jailed, then released and has had his movements restricted. Hell hath no fury like a general scorned,' she wrote in the Independent.

Both in real life and in cyber space there is no dearth of people asking Jemima to 'shut up' and stop pontificating on Pakistan.

"Why does she behave like an expert on all things Pakistan," asked Mehreen Jabbar, a university student who is tired of Jemima's writings in Britain's Telegraph.

The Telegraph website is full of comments by Pakistanis and non-Pakistanis who accuse Jemima of being vile.

'Why does The Telegraph insist on inflicting Jemima Khan's opinions on us?" wrote a reader in response to one of her articles.    

"How dare someone whose only link with Pakistan was through a failed marriage attack a leader who clearly has the support of millions of Pakistanis," wrote another reader.

Some others have called Jemima a 'naive, uninformed Western pontificating on what Pakistanis should or should not do'.

A Pakistani who logs in as JinnahFan on the website wrote: 'I think you should listen to some of the speeches of (Imran Khan)... especially the part about where he says that the reason that most of these governments have not run well is because they have been Western puppets'


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