Islamabad: Days after Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan divorced Reham Khan, her staff has been kicked out of the sprawling residence of the cricketer-turned-politician.
Imran Khan and Reham Khan parted ways on Friday nearly 10 months after they tied the knot in January this year.
Reham Khan had staff working for her at the residence. After marrying Imran Khan, she had sent many old-timers at the Bani Galla house packing to replace them with her own appointees.
Naeemul Haq, PTI information secretary and a close confidant of Imran Khan, barred the personal staff of Reham Khan from going to Bani Gala and they were asked to meet him at the central information secretariat of the party located at Embassy Road of the capital.
“The personal staff of Reham Khan comprise a personal secretary, a female make-up artist and a driver,” an office-bearer of PTI central information secretariat said, adding Naeemul Haq told them that their services were no more required.
Imran Khan’s residence is also without a cook these days as the person, appointed by Reham, has also left the job after her unceremonious departure.
Reham after taking control of Bani Gala residence had replaced the old cook of Imran Khan, Sajawal Khan, with a new one from Chitral.
Sajawal Khan remained with Imran Khan for more than two decades but he was asked some months ago to leave Bani Gala as Reham did not approve of his services.
Imran Khan had offered him two years’ advance salary to quit his job. However, Naeemul Haq gave him the same job in the central information secretariat. According to PTI sources, Sajawal Khan would soon get his job back at Bani Gala.
Tahir Iqbal was another person who had remained personal secretary of Mr Khan since 1996 but he had to quit his job after Reham’s arrival in Bani Gala. However, a senior PTI leader Tahir Iqbal had been asked to perform his duties at the party office in central secretariat.
Background discussions revealed that former information secretary PTI Dr Shireeen Mazari may get some important portfolio in future as she had been removed from the position of her previous position on the insistence of Reham Khan.
However, Imran Khan appointed Dr Mazari as his spokesperson, which is also an important position in the party. A source in PTI said that Reham Khan had brought her own furniture to Bani Gala and perhaps she will take it back to some other place.
Loved by millions across the cricket-obsessed nation for winning Pakistan its only World Cup in 1992, Mr Khan’s sporting prowess and rugged good looks also brought him international celebrity in a country lacking glamour.
He was considered his country’s most eligible man until he suddenly announced his plans to marry shortly after launching a movement to topple the government in August 2014, which he called off in December after a Taliban attack on a school that killed 150 people.
Reham Khan, host of a local television talk show, was widely criticised after she appeared at public meetings of Imran Khan’s PTI, with opponents accusing her of seeking to boost her own profile through her husband’s fame.
She found particularly harsh reception in northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, governed by PTI.
She also sparked controversy after it emerged that she had not actually attended a college where she claimed to be a student on her website.
There had been reports Imran Khan’s family was unhappy with his choice of bride. Imran Khan is the father of two sons from his previous marriage to British socialite Jemima Khan (nee Goldsmith).
