 |
When Imran and Jemima arrived at Zaman Park in Lahore after tying the nuptial knot, they were greeted by more international reporters than the local band of news hounds. Imran appeared before the press and said, “Please don’t make a show out of my wedding. I have just got married, not conquered Kashmir. I need privacy.”
…It was a bombshell in the world media when the name of Jemima Goldsmith flashed as Imran’s would-be bride. Who is this young lady, all of 19 years of age? She was the daughter of a billionaire buccaneer, Sir James Goldsmith. Fleet street of London hailed him as a billionaire with a cause. The Los Angeles press once dubbed him a lucky gambler, a corporate raider, an alleged believer in the Wall Street trivia of ‘greed is good.’
Like his father, Frank Goldsmith, Sir Jimmy lived in a world of yachts and limousines and casinos. He was a playboy in his own right on the streets of Paris and London and in the fields of Mexico. He was a master in positioning capital before a trend caught the fancy of others.
Jemima Khan is the granddaughter of Major Frank Goldsmith… In 1904, he defeated George Bernard Shaw to become a member of London County Council from South St Pancras. In 1910, Jemima’s grandpa was elected Conservative MP for Stow Market. Frank was a British citizen of German descent but married a French beauty, Marcelle Mouiller.
****
Jemima’s mother Lady Annabel was born in London as Annabel Vane Tempest Stewart to the 8th Marquess of Londonderry, Edward Charles Steward Robert ‘Robin’ Vane Tempest Stewart. Jemima’s maternal grandfather was an Irish peer and politician… A football buff, he was first a director and later chairman of the Arsenal Football Club from 1939 to 1946. Jemima’s maternal grandmother, Romaine Combe, was the daughter of brewer Major Boyce Combe, of Farnham, Surrey. When her grandpa married Romaine, the family viewed the marriage with disdain, though the marriage turned out to be quite happy and peaceful until Lady Londonderry died of cancer.
Lady Annabel would recall in her memoirs later, “Cancer was a social taboo then, it was not disclosed to anyone. Daddy changed, literally overnight, into a complete drunk. It was awful; he would collapse while making speeches to the cricket club. He was on the bottle night and day.”
****
Sir James Goldsmith was a doting father to his daughter Jemima… When she married Imran, the media speculated she had not only converted to Islam but also rechristened herself Haiqa Khan to please the Pakistani people. But it was only a bland guessing game.
Jemima told me, “I never took the name of Haiqa, which incidentally, I dislike. That was all made up.”
****
One evening in November, 1994, Imran and Jemima were face to face across the table in a restaurant, San Lorenzo. It was the maiden meeting for the Pakistan cricket legend and a bachelor at 42 and the 19-year-old British heiress...
Jemima was not fascinated by the cricketer Imran. She said, “I knew nothing of cricket. I had never seen him on television or been interested in cricket. In fact, we hardly spoke and we didn’t run into each other again for about six months…”
****
Imran returned with his bride to the heat and dust of Lahore on 4 August, 1995, via Saudi Arabia. Just before his departure he gave his maiden post-wedding interview to The Telegraph in India…
 |
Imran said, “It never ever occurred to me that people would make such a big deal out of my marriage. I would not have married to satisfy people... I mean, you marry because you think you can spend the rest of your life with someone.”
****
By the end of 1995 Imran had decided to go political. Alarmed by his decision, opposition politicians in cahoots with intelligence agencies went into overdrive. Because of her half Jewish ancestry Jemima was expected to over-conform. She was expected to make an extra effort.
“Politics was a big part of my life in Pakistan. I always knew that Imran would join politics one day. He talked about joining politics when we first met… He really saw his involvement in politics as a potential extension of his social work.”
****
Less than 12 months after Jemima’s arrival in Lahore as a bride, she had to confront many challenges. The enormity of each challenge wouldn’t be confined only to her religious affiliations or her charity drive for the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre [started by Imran] or for that matter spurring her husband to launch his political party. So when tragedy struck at quarter to 12 on 14 April, 1996, in the mind-numbing bomb blasts at the hospital, she was brought to tears.
Just a few days ago Imran had announced his intent to launch a political movement to topple the Benazir Bhutto government. He had virtually announced a nationwide movement against Benazir Bhutto. Benazir was neck deep in trouble over a spate of corruption charges.
“The bomb blast at the cancer hospital was devastating for Imran. I don’t know who was behind the blasts. Over a dozen people were killed. The idea of bombing a cancer hospital was unthinkable. Already people were battling for their lives. The only free cancer hospital in the whole of Pakistan, it was shattering for everyone involved. Imran thought it was a politically motivated attack.”
****
In the course of the demanding campaign, parenthood was taking roots too. Motherhood filled Jemima with more expectations as well as more challenges.
“It was a gruelling period as Sulaiman was a tiny baby, born on 17 November, 1997. We were campaigning. It was quite a testing time. I joined Imran on many campaign trails.”
Jemima’s first political rally at Rawalpindi was an emotional success. A rally in Peshawar is etched deep in her memory.
“There were so many but I remember the women’s meetings which Imran didn’t attend... I was determined to address the gathering in Urdu. I learnt it phonetically. I couldn’t write Urdu but I could manage basic conversation. A political speech, I had to learn beforehand. People were kind and warm. I also spoke in Pushto. I tried my best…”
The press reported the Peshawar proceedings in their own choicest manners. In the second election campaign, a newspaper in Islamabad surprised everyone by reporting a backstage squabble between Imran and Jemima. The report said Imran was so peeved with Jemima’s command of her address that he shoved and pushed her. There was an altercation backstage.
Jemima found it a complete yarn...
Such innuendoes, especially personal ones, were a pretty regular thing in certain sections of the press. The motive was to drive a wedge between the couple, to tear apart the marriage. Jemima was turning out to be an asset for Imran at his political rallies…
 |
| Imran Khan and Jemima with their first-born |
Jemima’s presence was a calming influence. Imran didn’t let vilification weigh on his mind. “He is not a petty or vindictive person; he doesn’t bear grudges against anyone. I am a much more black and white person. If somebody does something dishonest or disloyal, that is it,” said Jemima.
The Anna Louise aka Sita White scandal created a buzz outside Zaman Park. However, the couple stood by the side of each other, calm and collected in their demeanour in the hours of fiercest political crisis. If anything, Jemima made Imran feel comfortable, and helped him forget the political insinuations, giving him more courage.
Was she ever unnerved?
“No, not at all.”… She told me, “Imran had by Pakistani standards a pretty untarnished record. The only problem in Pakistan is it is not possible to sue for libel when someone writes something defamatory as it is possible in England… At one point, I was treated as a Hindu conspirator when I visited India one last time.”
****
The cracks had appeared to surface in early 2003…
Jemima flung herself into deep depths of Pakistani society, its mores, its rituals and religious practices…Yet she was taunted at every turn in her Pakistan life. Through all her nine-summer-old life in Pakistan, she talked about the welfare of society and her love of poor people.
Some of her acquaintances in Imran’s close circles of friends argued that divorce for her was a personal misfortune. Some blamed the choking social milieu of Pakistani society for the end of the alliance. Quite a few critics of Imran argued the alliance was doomed from the start.
****
In 2009 spring, Imran told me, “Jemima will always remain dear to me. She is the mother of my two sons.”
However, he was not sure about his marital future. In mid-November 2009, he didn’t rule out marrying again. “I don’t know what will happen in future. I can’t say I will never marry again.”
