Pakistani model and actress Hajra Khan Panezai has called Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan a “liar and a wicked person” while speaking about her autobiography.
The book, titled ‘Where the Opium Grows: Surviving Pakistan as a Woman, an Actress and Knowing Imran Khan’ was launched on Friday in Islamabad.
Speaking at the launch ceremony, Panezai not only accused Khan of consuming cocaine but also called him a very different person in his private life.
‘A different person’
The actress said she had realised as early as 2014 that the person who was considered a hero, a messiah, or a pressure group by the people was a very different person in his private life.
Panezai said that she stood by every word published in her autobiography which was mostly based on her relations with the PTI chief. She added that she wrote her autobiography to hold herself accountable for her weaknesses and foolishness.
Not only that, the model also alleged that the accusations of a 21-year-old girl becoming pregnant due to sexual relations with Imran Khan were “200%” true.
The woman in question was out of the country, and she knew her but didn’t have the right to reveal her identity, said the actress during the ceremony.
‘I desisted from publishing book due to threats’
Further speaking about her personal life, Panezai said that she was subjected to sexual exploitation when she was six-year-old and her autobiography was based on her struggle.
The Pakistani actress told the audience that her father had joined the PTI owing to her friendship with Khan. She said she felt serious remorse about the quarrels she had had with her friends over the PTI.
She claimed that Khan was the first one to receive the draft of her autobiography upon its completion in 2014, however, she wasn’t granted permission to publish the book.
She revealed she desisted from publishing her book after receiving threats.
The actress claimed that her book had come to the fore after much struggle, as she had to leave Pakistan in her pursuit to get it published. She further said that a London-based publisher had declined to publish her book after concluding that it contained several allegations and it would be difficult to prove them. She said she had proof to substantiate whatever claims she had made in her book.
Upon her return to Pakistan, Panezai said her social media accounts and emails had been hacked and not recovered yet.
She said there was nobody behind the publishing of her autobiography as her book had come to the fore after her years-long struggle. She shared that a commercial version of her autobiography was yet to be published.
The actress acknowledged that people had varying degrees of opinions about her based on her profession, adding that she remained a model and an actress and she made such choices freely in her life.
She conceded that the subject of her autobiography could be an ideal person for anyone as she had written about the qualifications of this person and the dashing of her expectations about him. She said the contents of her books were based on her personal observations.
‘Khan sold his religion’
Further speaking about Khan, Panezai said that perceiving the former prime minister as a political force or a messiah showed the inexperience or lack of knowledge of the person who held such views.
“We viewed a person as a messiah and we used to quarrel over him, but now I have to seek forgiveness from my friends,” she added, alleging that Khan had sold his religion.
“He [Imran Khan] had to use a bicycle to go to the office, a bicycle which nobody has seen so far.”
During the ceremony, Panezai clarified to the audience that her struggle was not meant to secure any political office as she would be deprived of her personal life once she chose to be a candidate for any political office.
The actress further claimed that she was trolled on social media when she criticised Imra n Khan.
Panezai said she did not consider herself to be a hero; rather, she was an ordinary girl from Quetta. She said that through her autobiography she wanted to give a message to the people to ask their daughters not to lower their moral standards for the sake of anyone.
She conceded that she had been mostly at fault in her friendship with Imran Khan. “I want that others shouldn’t repeat the mistakes I committed in my life.”
