The much talked about divorce of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan and anchor Reham Khan has generated plenty of interest. Despite the country still reeling from the horrific earthquake that caused massive damage in the northern areas of the country, the divorce soon became the most discussed topic on news channels and social media. The major points of discussion were related to the way the divorce happened. The rumours of the divorce were already circulating in the media and were denied in strong words by the PTI Chief. However Imran finally announced his divorce through the spokesperson Naeemul Haq. The divorce was later confirmed by both Imran and Reham through social networking site Twitter.
On Tuesday, the PTI Chief in his first public appearance since his divorce reprimanded a journalist for asking a question about his ‘personal life’. Imran appeared to have lost his temper at a press conference after a reporter asked him a question regarding his recent split. Responding to the question, the cricketer turned politician said ‘Every society follows certain standards of civilization and every human being has some etiquettes and one should be ashamed of himself over speaking about someone else’s personal life.’
It is an obvious fact that politicians are public figures and their personal lives are often the topic of discussion in the media. It can be argued that the said journalist shouldn’t have asked the question, however, at the same time it must be said that the reaction by the PTI Chief was rather bizarre. There is also the argument that by announcing his divorce through the party spokesperson and then using a social networking site to confirm it, Imran himself made his personal life public.
The question whether a politician’s private life should be open to the public is up for debate.
