Jemima Goldsmith, the ex-wife of former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, has hit out at the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) for proposed protests in front of her residence in London and “targeting her children”.
Jemima Goldsmith
© Photo : Twitter
Goldsmith also alleged in a tweet posted on Friday that she has been subjected to "anti-Semitic abuse" by supporters of Pakistan’s ruling party on social media.
Goldsmith is a television producer and was married to the world cup winning captain-turned-politician in 1995. The couple had two sons before they parted ways in 2004, after which Goldsmith moved back to London.
Her brother Zac Goldsmith, a minister in Boris Johnson's cabinet, tweeted out in support of Khan on 10 April, hours after he was removed as Pakistan's prime minister in a no-confidence motion.
Zac Goldsmith
© Photo : Twitter
Goldsmith’s allegations come against the backdrop of supporters of PML-N calling for demonstrations in London, apparently in retaliation for protests called by supporters of Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI).
Khan has called for his supporters to hit the streets across Pakistan to protest what he described as an “imported government”. Many of the PTI activists have also held rallies in support of the ex-PM at locations in the US and UK, among other nations.
In London, PTI supporters have rallied at the residence of exiled former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, the brother of sitting PM Shehbaz.
A PML(N) supporter warned in a video message that he would protest at Goldsmith’s house if PTI held any more demonstrations at Sharif’s London residence.
In the wake of the video surfacing on the internet as well as Goldsmith’s appeal, many observers have expressed solidarity with the Londoner.
“The right to protest is something we protect in the UK - but to target children and resort to antisemitic abuse is vile and unacceptable,” stated Tariq Mahmood Ahmad, a Conservative life peer and the minister of state for the Commonwealth and the United Nations in the British Foreign Office.
However, there are some Pakistanis who have called for a bargain, arguing that the protests at Jemima’s residence may cease to take place if the PTI agrees to no longer demonstrate at Sharif’s London residence.
Hamid Mir
© Photo : Twitter
"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,” Jemima responded to the tweet of Hamid Mir, a prominent Pakistani journalist.