'Jemima Khan adores Sonia Gandhi'

ISLAMABAD: Jemima Khan, the glamorous ex-wife of Pakistan's cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan, has a deep fascination for rising India, "adores Congress chief Sonia Gandhi" and wonders about the political future of her children Rahul and Priyanka.
 
Jemima's comments on India and the Gandhi family feature in "Imran Vs Imran", a new biography of Imran Khan by New Delhi-based author Frank Huzur.
 
"Jemima has a deep fascination for rising India just as she has been fascinated with Pakistan. She adores Sonia Gandhi and wonders about the political trajectory of her children -- Rahul and Priyanka," Huzur said.
 
Jemima's comments come close on the heels of Imran's recent observation that slain former premier Benazir Bhutto's son Bilawal, who is the Pakistan People's Party chairman, should begin his political career at the grassroots like Rahul Gandhi. Imran's ex-wife has been very critical of Bilawal taking over the PPP mantle following his mother's assassination in December last year.
 
Jemima, who was also a bitter critic of Benazir, in fact wrote in Britain's Telegraph newspaper: "If a Bhutto must run Pakistan, why not Fatima?"
 
Huzur, who made five trips to Pakistan in nine months to meet Imran  with whom he has been "awestruck" since he was nine years old -- and another trip to Britain to meet Jemima, is readying for a July launch of his book in London.
 
"I had before me hundreds of icons in my own country but I couldn't feel fire in my imagination (Imran does not) represent dynasty politics nor does he belong to a filthy rich industrial house. He is a commoner, so rare a commodity in the mud pond of politics in India and Pakistan," Huzur said when asked why he chose to write Imran's biography.
 
But it was a difficult task to approach Imran.
 
"It is not easy to get to Imran Khan. When I first met Imran in New Delhi, he was aware of my (interest) in his life and times. However, my unflinching determination bore result," said Huzur who had over 24 sessions with Imran.
 
Huzur also said Imran "was not finicky to the same degree as Aamir Khan is in India if you talk about celebrity fuss in our part of the world".
 
"He didn't wish to see the manuscript. Here I would say he was neither fastidious nor fussy at all," said Huzur, who has a long chapter dedicated to Imran's marriage to Jemima.
 
Huzur, who met Jemima in London, said: "it was as easy or difficult" to get Jemima as Imran. "She wouldn't make up her mind until she had had an intellectual discussion with Imran. Her approval for (talking) was a turning point," he said.
 
The 400-page "Imran Vs Imran" will feature "rare" pictures of the cricketing legend and his family. The publishers have decided to contribute 15 per cent of the book's cover price to Imran's Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre.
 
Falcon Books, the publishers, will initially launch the title in English.
 
The book's Urdu and Hindi versions will follow later in the year. Zeba Naureen, a Toronto-based Pakistani writer and journalist, will translate the book into Urdu, said Huzur, who scripted a controversial play "Hitler in Love with Madonna" when he was barely 19.