Ex-husband Ijaz, Wasim Akram, others send Reham Khan defamation notice

LONDON: A bitter fight has broken out between Imran Khan’s former wife Reham Khan and four individuals who claim that Reham Khan has mentioned them in her upcoming book in defamatory terms.

On Monday, a letter was released to media from the PTI showing that Reham Khan’s former husband Ijaz Rehman, former cricketer Wasim Akram, British Pakistani businessman Zulfi Bukhari and Anila Khawaja, British Pakistani female activist linked with PTI – citing “defamatory and malicious” content in her upcoming autobiography.

A “pre-action defamation protocol” letter, addressed to Reham Khan by a West London law firm, representing Rehman, Akram, Imran Khan’s close aide Zulfi Bukhari and PTI’s media coordinator Anila Khawaja, claims that the manuscript of her purported autobiography titled “Reham Khan” contains a “litany of malicious, false, incorrect, highly misleading, callous, wanton, tortious, prejudicial, damaging, libelous and defamatory” imputations against its clients.

A source at Sweetman Burke and Sinker confirmed that Zulfi Bukhari has instructed the firm on behalf of himself and three others. The law firm has on its panel Mehtab Aziz who has previously represented Imran Khan in many legal cases in the UK.

The letter adds that “our clients will be seeking full redress through the courts for the serious damage and harm” the book is anticipated to inflict on them.

Reham Khan's upcoming autobiography has sparked an altercation in both mainstream and social media. It is said to revolve around her marriage to PTI chief Imran Khan, which ended in a divorce mere 15 months later.

The manuscript of her book was leaked online, which irked several PTI leaders who took to Twitter to accuse her of being part of an "agenda" ahead of the upcoming general election.

The letter stated that a legal action will be initiated in Pakistan too by “Mr Hamza Ali Abbassi, M. Murad Saeed, Mr Pervaiz Khattak, Mr Umer Farooq, Mr Mohsin Aziz, Mr Asad Umer, Mr Zakir Khan, Mr Mian Yousaf Salahuddin”.

It said that “there are defamatory imputations against Mr Sayed Z Bukhari at pages 464 and 539 of the Manuscript. Mr Rehman has accused of multiple failings in his marriage through much of the manuscript beginning with the Chapter entitled 'The Door’ at page 5. Mr Rehman is portrayed ( wrongly our client asserts ) as being nasty, mean and cruel. You have accused Mr Rehman of assault at various points in your manuscript which are detailed in Schedule A. At one point you imply that this has gone on for 12 years throughout your marriage but at another point in your manuscript you contradict this when you state that the violence only started after your son Sahir was born.”

It said that the paragraphs about Wasim Akram were defamatory.

The letter said that allegations against Anila Khawaja were baseless.

It went on: “Each of our Clients is shocked and dismayed by the malicious and false imputations contained in the manuscript and takes serious exception to the same as these are clearly intended to cause harm to their reputation and standing and have the object of defaming our clients. We believe that these manuscripts, contain serious, untrue and highly defamatory comments towards our Clients and contain malicious falsehood. Our clients will be seeking full redress through the courts for the serious damage and harm your book is anticipated to no doubt inflict on our clients.”

The letter demanded of Reham Khan that she should retract all allegations and ensure that the book will not be published or else legal action will be initiated.