ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) has asked the party chief’s ex-wife Reham Khan to “immediately contradict” the controversial contents of her unpublished book which have been circulating on social media for the last couple of days or be ready to face “criminal proceedings”.

Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, PTI information secretary Fawad Chaudhry claimed that the contents of Ms Khan’s upcoming book were “pornographic” and against “family values”. He also questioned the timing of its release.

“I demand that she contradict the contents of the book within 24 hours. Otherwise, whatever is written in the book is liable to criminal proceedings and cases will be registered,” he said.

Reham asks media to focus on #Justiceforkhadija instead of PTI’s bullying tactics

Alleging that the former ruling party Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) was behind this, Mr Chaudhry asked the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to take notice of the issue, “impose a ban on the book” and consider it a part of “pre-poll rigging”.

The PTI’s information secretary also asked the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) to come into action and stop television channels from airing talk shows over the issue merely based on “gossip”.

Mr Chaudhry claimed that he expected Ms Khan would step forward and deny the “absurd and bizarre” contents of her book, but “unfortunately she has not done so yet”.

He said that Ms Khan did not care for the country or family values shared by the citizens of Pakistan.

“They were divorced three years ago, yet she announced that her book will be published now...at a time when elections are just 60 days away,” he said.

“The Raiwind network is behind this, just like it was in the 1980s and 1990s when they targeted Benazir Bhutto and her mother...and in 1996 when Mr Khan launched the PTI. The same people ran a campaign against him by highlighting the Sita White incident,” he added.

Mr Chaudhry claimed that a recent photograph of Ms Khan and her son with former US ambassador Hussain Haqqani doing the rounds on social media was sufficient evidence.

Discussing yet another photograph of Ms Khan, this time with former PML-N MNA from Rawalpindi Hanif Abbasi, Mr Chaudhry claimed that the PML-N leader had asked “what will Imran do if Reham’s book is published before the election?”

Regarding Ms Khan’s alleged emails with former interior minister Ahsan Iqbal, the PTI information secretary said that the exchange was also available on social media.

“Since Mr Iqbal and Ms Khan claim these emails are fabricated and fake, the Federal Investigation Agency’s cybercrime unit should look into it,” he said.

Legal notices

Ms Khan’s controversial book has already been involved in a number of legal notices. She has sent a legal notice to actor Hamza Ali Abbasi for spreading false information.

Meanwhile, a businessman and friend of Mr Khan, Syed Zulfiqar Bukhari, former fast bowler Wasim Akram, PTI Foreign Media head Anila Khawaja and Ms Khan’s ex-husband have also sent legal notices to her for maligning them in her unpublished manuscript.

Ms Khan, on the other hand, has refused to confirm or deny the contents of her book. On Tuesday evening, however, she tweeted: “Media has been dominated by a party that has only time for bullying & lying. Could you give this much air time to #Justiceforkhadija? She is not that important to the party of justice or their backers & hackers.”

Published in Dawn, June 6th, 2018