Page 233-234 (Hamza Shehbaz & Maryam Nawaz)
In my interview with Hamza Shehbaz, I found him to be an extremely polite
individual. Not only was he courteous to me, he braved the blunt attacks of
my makeup lady. She very directly informed him that they had chosen a couple
of candidates who were disliked. He listened to her calmly and assured her
that it was now too close to the elections, but he would bear her comments
in mind for the future. His pleasant response charmed her, and she was raving
about him the whole way back.
He left after the interview but insisted that our team should stay back for
lunch prepared for us. I instead wanted to milk the opportunity, and rather
cheekily asked his co-ordinator to try to get me an interview with Maryam
Nawaz Sharif and they squeezed me into her busy schedule.
I was immediately taken aback by her mannerisms. I was expecting a lady
with all the airs and graces of being a daughter of a powerful strong dynasty.
But unlike the princess label she had been given by the PTI, she came across
as a focused, time-conscious woman. She would get up and open the door
herself to call her next appointment in, rather than ringing a bell, and stuck
to the allotted time. Interestingly, we all thought that Hamza had the mannerisms
of his uncle Nawaz, while Maryam had strong administrative skills similar to
her uncle Shahbaz Sharif. She was operating the office with the discipline an
army officer maintains. While Hamza came across as a more laid-back and
diplomatic politician who could connect because of his Awami appeal,
Maryam was very direct and to-the-point, unlike most Pakistanis one would
meet. She was certainly not a stereotypical pampered, desi-elite woman; I
immediately felt she was very independent and competent.
None of us would really know how independent she would prove to be, until
the post-Panama crisis that hit that family in 2017. But I felt the visceral
hatred for this woman was undeserved. She was not the ‘Pharoah’ that she
had been labeled by people who had not met her. She simply didn’t waste
time in idle chit-chat or pleasantries typical of the subcontinent. Women are
expected to be more docile and sweet. A taskmaster man is admired, but a
no-nonsense woman is intolerable in our society.
——————
Page 309 Shehbaz Sharif
PTI had labeled them as the ‘badshahs’ or the Kings. Shahbaz Sharif was
portrayed in media as a man who was prone to get married every so often
to any attractive woman he laid his eyes on.
With all that negativity, I marched into a tasteful parlor. As I looked around,
I saw a penchant for Faberge eggs and an obsessional attention-to-detail in the
decor. It all looked familiar. I went into the powder room and did a double
take at the painted basin. It seemed like someone had been consulting my
decorating notes. I pointed this out to my researcher who had accompanied
me.
As we sat waiting for the CM to arrive, several people dropped in to say hello
to the team. I was still in a bit of a daze and was slow to register that some
were his close family members. Their attitude was pleasant and down to
earth. A man introduced himself as ‘the one who was not in politics’. He joked
that he was the businessman who kept earning while the family kept spending
it all on politics.
The atmosphere was casual and relaxed until the CM walked in. I had my back
to the entrance, but the immediate pin drop silence suggested that the
taskmaster had arrived. It was as if everyone in the room had stopped
breathing. I noticed that the room suddenly emptied as everyone presumably
scampered to their duties.
The CM walked in with military precision. I half-expected him to bring his feet
together for attention. He greeted me in a very brisk, professional manner.
We sat down. The makeup artist attempted to take the shine off the CM’s
face, but this man, with his silvery grey hair and unusually long fingers,
dismissed him. He had no time to waste. We jumped straight into the
interview with no chit-chat and no deliberation.
I noticed the older man kept meticulously rearranging the pen and post-it
notepad in front of him. I had discovered who my obsessional replica in the
house was. Besides tiny water breaks, the CM answered my questions for a
straight 60 minutes. After the intense grilling which clearly showed my PTI
tilt, we stood up. Before I could thank him, the CM surprised me by saying in
a rather fatherly fashion, “Thank you. Very tough interview young lady but I
appreciate it”.
With that, he was gone. No sleazy overtures. No arrogance. He was just brisk,
clinical, and professional to the core. The man was clearly a no-nonsense type
who had pressing work engagements. As soon as he left, I heard people
breathing again.
————————
Page 335-337 IK’s Sisters
Rubina was, in his words, a bitter spinster ….Rubina bullying Imran for much
of his life; ironically, for his looks and lack of intellect. Imran told me that
the family worried about him because he was a bit of dunce.
It was shocking the words the siblings used for each other. Imran would often
make fun of Aleema and her political aspirations. She thinks she is bloody
Fatima Jinnah. In front of Imran, Aleema said quite clearly to me “He is not
a brother to me. He is a commodity. We have to get where we want with him.
So I don’t think of him like a sister would.”
He said that the house had been completely taken over by friends and family.
He loved that he was now left alone to enjoy his piece of paradise.
The youngest, Uzma, was the one he liked best. Of all the people that he
talked about, she escaped with the least criticism. He thought that she was
an irresponsible mother for abandoning her young boys to go off on religious
preaching expeditions for months on end.
I soon found out that this was true. The driver, Safeer, handed me an Iphone
during the dharna in September, asking me to change the settings. I didn’t
know whose phone it was. It was open on a text with the highest font setting.
The text was from Aleema and it read ‘’Haram Khan is here, looking victorious
and the PTI girls have sat her in the front row’’.
It was certainly no accident that I was given the phone. As I returned the
phone, Safeer informed me that it was Rani’s phone.
By contrast, my brother was this gentle being who had no ability to say
anything nasty about any woman, especially his own sister. Even when we
disagreed, we would not resort to such distasteful comments, so it was
certainly a shock to hear it from Imran.
Page 299 Sulaiman
It was Suleiman that disturbed me the most. I had never seen such a sad
looking boy. He was nervous and unsure of himself, and I didn’t see him smile
once the entire evening. Sahir was sitting next to Imran and talking
confidently, which made Suleiman look even more uneasy. He kept looking
for his father to turn his face to him and give him attention. He hardly spoke.
I wanted to get up and give the poor boy a hug. On the way back, Ridha and
I discussed how withdrawn and nervous the kid looked. The kid had clearly
had a very different upbringing to any of mine, and it wouldn’t be long before
I began to realize how messed up his world really was.
Page 409 Qasim
Jemima had been on the phone after discovering cannabis in Qasim’s jacket.
I was naturally concerned, and……… Imran interrupted me by telling me that
Qasim was doing weed with Jemima’s brother, the boy’s own uncle.
Page 440
Every interview during the marriage was pre-organised by PTI and
interviewers were all PTI lobby anchors.
Page 519 anchors
As I started working in Pakistani media I slowly realized that everyone on TV
had a financial feed other than their salaries. Most of the well-known anchors
were romanced by media wings. A few feeble
attempts were made to contact me too but my blunt approach soon crushed
these efforts.
Page 579 female anchors
Imran’s penchant for sexting was apparently well known in Lahori circles. Most
female anchors had excitedly reported receiving images of his genitalia. When
my film producer told me this, I dismissed it as a vicious rumor, wondering
why someone of his stature would take a risk like that.
Page 222 self-praise
The problem was that I looked much younger than I was, and basically not cut
out for being an anchor. I introduced new rules. No one was allowed in my
office except for my female make-up artist. Instead of alcohol hidden away
in cabinets, there were now clean prayer mats stacked up. The crew was treated
with respect, and a culture of writing scripts and emails was
introduced.
Self-praise page 252
My no-nonsense approach and grassroots reporting style of the program was
gaining the attention and irk of the leading anchors. I was sitting on a smaller
budget and channel, yet denting their established ratings.
Page 305
I had been giving impressive ratings and did not appreciate this misogynistic
ordering.
Tahajjud fajr praying mentioned on page
332, 479, 538, 71, 593
Page 365
As we returned to the hotel after Umrah, he was briefly euphoric, and
commented that he had never received such a reception. He had been for
Umra before, and wondered if something like the dharna was the reason for
this warm reception. It was the wife of the host, Zulqarnain, who commented
that it was perhaps also because of a Pukhtun bhabhi.
Page 475 Haripur
Haripur
After addressing a large gathering in a party worker’s home, he held out his
phone to me and showed me a text from my husband. Yousaf Ayub looked
confused and, with a smile on his face, said “I don’t know why your husband
has sent me these instructions. Apparently, he thinks seeing a woman in
public in a conservative place like Haripur is not acceptable”.
I read the text telling Yousaf Ayub to make sure I was to be kept away from
the Haripur Jalsa. I went red in the face while he just shook his head, rather
bemused by my husband’s sudden declaration that women should not be seen
campaigning in Haripur. As I turned my head away from him to hide my
embarrassment, my nephew showed me a text from IK on his phone saying
the same thing but putting it differently. There I sat on the sofa, with people
feverishly photographing me. The whole of Pakistani media was equating me
with the late Fatima Jinnah and Shaheed Benazir Bhutto for my bold confident
speeches, but my husband telling others to make me disappear
Page 551 Nawaz Sharif
(while leaving IK she said)
“There must be some good in Pakistanis. This country has been saved. My
people have been saved And Allah has saved me. All this time, I prayed that
you should get your wish and that we could have a baby, but I thank God
today that I have been saved. And Nawaz might be a criminal…he might be
corrupt. But you know why Allah has given him his place? Because he knows
how to respect his wife and daughter.
Imran, jao tum azaad ho (you are free now), to do what you want to.”
And I walked away from him, that rock, and the false promises forever.
Page 526 IK touching her feet
(After overhearing IK and JKT she said to IK )
“Mujhay Jaleel mat kero. Let me go with me decency. You want to wait
till the 30th of nov 30th of dec 30th of March
I won’t say a word until you want. Just end it now. He came over to me and
touched my feet and said
“Reham mein Bohat bura chutiya hoon.
Today was a watershed moment for me. I draw the line here.
I have had doubts put in my mind but I needed this. Never again will I think
like this again. Give me one last chance please. I don’t know what came over
me. Please forgive me
Page 346 IK iblees moment
Baby the Dharna is over. Thank God!”
He smiled. I will never forget the look on his face. In that split second, I
wondered “Have I married a man who thinks of people as collateral?”
I quickly suppressed that thought. “But Imran, it’s the most dreadful news
ever!” I cried out.
He changed his expression and immediately became serious. “Oh yes, it’s
dreadful! They showed it to us all. The bodies all piled up on top of each
other”.
Page 379 JKT Anchors
I did not disagree with their concern about Jahangir’s influence over IK but
they probably got the impression, like most others, that I was in Jahangir’s
camp. Since Jahangir was happy to pour money into the media, with anchors
regularly coming in and out of his F6 home, he had perhaps created this myth
himself
Page 613 anchors
Making sure no cruelty or injustice is hidden is very important but I have seen
journalists channel owners and TRP manipulators sitting in my ex-husband’s
home guiding him and taking guidance from him.
His private ATM’s paying their salaries. It was an open secret.
It encouraged a culture but the other parties did not have as much financing
or support to match the party of change.
Comedians apologized to me in person and explained their predicament how
they were given ultimatums if they dared to go against policy. People are
not only bought they are bullied and in some cases blackmailed into toeing
the line.
After watching a sensible journalist change his style overnight I made some
inquiries and found that an operative had been sent to sleep with the anchor
with the highest ranking and a compromising video made.
The man was effectively controlled after years of defiance.
Page 606 Nawaz Uncle
As the years went by, I realized that Nawaz Sharif’s regional alignment
strategy with Turkey and Central Asian countries was making him stronger,
but he was becoming a threat to certain powers. The networking of the Sharifs
had made them stronger than the planners at home.
Page 410-413 Imran Zionist
The bond between Imran and the Goldsmiths and Rothschilds was harder to
understand for me. Imran said that he was the resident counselor for not only
his own ex-wife’s problems with the men in her life, but also took the role of
emotional coach to Kate Rothschild. According to Imran, Kate was devastated
when the rapper she fell in love with converted to Islam and refused to
continue the affair with her. The rapper was affiliated to the Nation of Islam,
which is described as an anti-Semitic organization by its critics. Since the
Rothschilds were known for their banking supremacy but also for being active
Zionists, perhaps it was the surname that caused conflict in Kate’s
relationship. One of their ancestors, Walter Rothschild, was responsible for drafting
the declaration for a Jewish homeland in Palestine in 1917, which
came to be known as the Balfour declaration.
I found it strange that Imran made a point of extreme public rhetoric against
the Americans, while sharing close ties with those who had a clear interest in
Israel. Imran was also very close to his brothers-in-law, particularly Zac.
Imran maintained that in a violent argument once where Imran slapped
Jemima, it was Zac who asked Imran not to divorce his sister. Imran had
impressed upon me that it was not his ex-wife but her family he was good
friends with. Imran’s father-in-law was a tycoon who had a gambler’s flair
about him. He left more than enough money to his eight offspring to live off
in luxury, and also designed Imran’s future.
As time progressed, my gut instinct told me that Imran had to do their bidding,
not because of being a good ex-husband, but for his politics. Of course, I had
no evidence. Perhaps I desperately wanted to believe in him.
A few days before the divorce, someone told me a story of a meeting, which
shook me. Soon after the divorce, I requested a meeting with the religious
scholar at the center of the story. My worst fears were confirmed. A former
foreign minister had confided in the scholar about this sensitive meeting from
the 90s. To cross check the story, I cornered one of the most respected and
powerful former DG ISIs. He confirmed to me that the story I had stumbled
onto about Imran’s connections with the Americans was indeed true. Back in
1996, a meeting between the late foreign minister Sahibzada Yaqub Khan and
Henry Kissinger had a third party in it. It was Sir James Goldsmith. The
Pakistani foreign minister was categorically told by Kissinger “Look after our
boy”. When Sahibzada asked who their boy was, the answer was “Imran Khan”.
Concerned about the influence Jemima exerted on Imran, I had started
reading up about James Goldsmith during my marriage, and stumbled on an
article by David Goldman in the October issue in 1984. In volume 11 of EIR,
he wrote “Sir Goldsmith created an elaborate network of puppets in Britain
and the US to create an elaborate cash laundering network in the United
States between 1981 and 1983”.
I had also read somewhere that the fictional character of corporate raider Sir
Larry Wildman in the American film Wall Street was based on James
Goldsmith. The EIR staff investigation also raised questions concerning the
finances of the political network broadly associated with Kissinger Associates
Inc. It went on to explain the link. According to EIR report, Gen Vernon Walters
of the state department and the chief protégé of Henry Kissinger was, for a
long time, employed by Goldsmith.
Through the early months of marriage, I had struggled to understand Jemima’s
hold on IK. He clearly hated her phone calls, and cursed her after each one,
but could not say no to her. Initially, I thought he was just a doormat because
of his kids, but it began to dawn on me in October that it was a stronger hold.
It made complete sense when I realized that James Goldsmith had always
been politically active, and had even founded his own party in the 90’s called the
Referendum party. It was a single issue Eurosceptic party which laid the
foundations of Brexit.
Before him, his father Frank Goldsmith had been a prolific Jewish politician
as well. Frank, a hotelier of German descent, had been a conservative MP.
Besides his portfolio of 48 hotels, he was known for being one of the founders
of the King David Hotel in East Jerusalem. Over 46% of the hotel was funded
by notable Jews. During the six-day war, the hotel was extended.
Page 414-416 Tyrian White and mentioned 5 other children (necessary to
mention or not? Decide yourself!)
Page 257 Kashif Abbasi
Kashif Abassi seemed unimpressed by the Leader, and appeared as
exasperated as myself with the lack of knowledge and political acumen on
display. Shireen Mazari, the rather loud and brash information secretary
(known more for her rudeness than her speaking skills) bulldozed all our
suggestions by giving us the standard response of most political top-tier
leaders of “We are doing this sort of stuff already.”
As we moved outdoors to the high tea spread out for us, Kashif Abassi
whispered, “I am not prepared to be ruled by a daft leader”.
As I nodded, I caught sight of Imran taking interest in our interaction. As soon
as I caught his eye, he averted his gaze.
Random Points
Khan 7 bajay k baad ghar say bahir nahi rehny dete thy . Imran didn’t like her
to stay out of home late at night.
Imran wanted her to wear western clothes with foreign dignitaries