E-Paper
Imran Khan texted ‘talaq’ to wife Reham to call off 10-month marriage
Cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan’s marriage with BBC weather girl Reham Khan ended just after 10 months with a text message, according to a media report.
Cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan’s marriage with BBC weather girl Reham Khan ended just after 10 months with a text message, according to a media report.
Khan, 63, who captained the Pakistan team that won the World Cup in 1992, married 42-year-old Reham in January in a low-key ceremony at his home in Islamabad. The couple announced their break-up on Twitter last month.
The leader of the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf party texted “talaq” three times to Reham to formally divorce her, the Daily Mail reported.
“Although both sides insist they parted amicably in Pakistan, a source revealed that the end finally came when Imran texted his wife the word ‘talaq’ (the Arabic term for ‘I divorce you’) written three times. This was followed by a brief email,” the report said.
Reham, who got the SMS as she stepped off a plane that had taken her from Pakistan to Birmingham, reportedly received a “confirmation call from Imran’s chief of staff”.
She was reportedly driven by “senior officials of her husband’s political party” to London, where one of Khan’s closest aides started “negotiating a financial settlement to annul the brief marriage”.
Announcing the end of the marriage last month, Khan tweeted he had the “greatest respect for Reham’s moral character”. Naeemul Haque, a spokesman for Khan, said in a Facebook post the couple had “decided to divorce by mutual consent”.
A source close to Khan was quoted by Pakistan’s Dawn.com as saying that he and Reham were “just not getting along”.
A source close to Khan’s family was quoted by Daily Mail as saying, “Their home became a battleground because Reham was determined to control every aspect of Imran’s life.”
(With agency inputs)
