ISLAMABAD: “Marriage is not a crime. A person can get married whenever he wants, and it’s not like I’m cheating on my wife or marrying in secret.”

As PTI chief Imran Khan uttered these words at the fag-end of his Bani Gala press conference on Tuesday, a wave of excitement ran through the entire press corps in attendance.

Teasing the reporters in attendance, Mr Khan said, “I want to make a statement so that you can go home in peace and rest easy, social media should also relax.”

Alluding to rumours about his marriage, Mr Khan said that he was most concerned about his two young sons, and had held off on the marital front for nearly 10 years because he could not think of hurting them.

“I only saw my boys for four days during the sit-in, then the Peshawar attack happened and we became involved in the national action plan and I couldn’t see them. Now, I’ve met them and will, hopefully, have some good news for you this week,” he concluded.

Mr Khan’s remarks came in apparent response to rumours that he had wed in secret. Reports in UK-based dailies such as the Daily Mail, The Independent and The Daily Mirror speculated that the politician had secretly wed TV presenter and talk show host Reham Khan.

While both have denied the rumours until now, a message from Mr Khan’s ex-wife Jemima Khan’s Twitter account seemed to confirm the news. “I hope Imran will be happy in this new phase of his life,” she tweeted on Tuesday night.

Reham Khan is a television personality and a former BBC weathergirl, who has also worked for a number of private TV channels in Pakistan. Most recently, she hosted a primetime talk show on DawnNews. Although Dawn tried to contact Ms Khan for comment, her phone remained switched off for most of the day.

Published in Dawn, January 7th, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play