Furore over Imran Khan getting married again: 'It's like I've revealed State secrets to India,' he says

Agencies
January 10, 2018

Islamabad, Jan 10: Annoyed by the "gutter media campaign" against his plan to get married for a third time, Pakistan's flamboyant cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan on Tueday asked whether he had "sold" state secrets to India or "laundered" the country's wealth to deserve a bad press.

Breaking his silence over reports of his "marriage" to his spiritual guru Bushra Maneka, Pakistan's opposition leader blamed ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif and owner of a private media house for the "vicious, gutter media campaign" against him in recent days.

In a series of tweets, the 65-year-old former cricket captain said that he was only concerned about "his children and the very conservative family of Bushra begum."

He alleged that the "vicious, gutter media campaign" was being led by NS [Nawaz Sharif] and MSR [Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman], adding that it did not bother him. Shakil-ur-Rahman is the founder of Geo Television Network.

In another tweet, he told "NS & MSR" that their vicious campaign has only strengthened his resolve to fight them.

Attacking Sharif, Imran said: "I have known the Sharifs for 40 years and I know all their sordid personal lives, but I would never stoop to the level of exposing these sordid details."

"For 3 days I have been wondering have I looted a bank; or money laundered bns in nation's wealth; or ordered a model-town-like killing spree; or revealed state secrets to India? I have done none of these but discovered I have committed a bigger crime: wanting to get married," he said.

Sharif was disqualified by the Supreme Court last year in the Panama Papers case. The Sharif family is facing three corruption cases linked to the scandal.

"All I ask of my well wishers and supporters is that they pray I find personal happiness which, except for a few years, I have been deprived of," Khan added.

Khan had first tied the knot with Jemima Goldsmith in 1995 that ended in divorce after nine years in 2004. His second marriage was with Reham Khan, then a TV anchor, which lasted barely 10 months.

Khan's angry tweets came hours after Nawaz, while speaking to the media outside an accountability court in Islamabad, said that it was "sad that Khan has gone into hiding" [since the marriage rumours] and left the alleged wife's children to give explanations.

"What sort of person he is who hides like a coward while leaving an innocent family to face rumours," he said.

"If he [Khan] has done something like this [gotten married], he should come out and admit it," Sharif said.

Rumours of Khan's alleged third marriage to his "faith healer" had circulated in the media after a report surfaced in The News on Saturday.

On Sunday, Khan's political party, the Pakistan Tehreek- e-Insaf (PTI) had issued a notification saying that Khan has proposed marriage to Maneka, believed to be a respected Pir (faith healer) in Pakpattan.

However, the notification had added that Maneka has yet to accept the marriage proposal. She will make a final decision after consulting her family, including her children.

The statement insisted that the PTI chief would announce it publicly if Maneka accepted the marriage proposal.

Maneka, who is in her 40s, is from the Wattoo clan, of which the Manekas are a sub-clan. She was married to Khawar Farid Maneka, a senior customs official in Islamabad, the Dawn newspaper reported.

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News Network
July 14,2020

New Delhi, Jul 14: Indian bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who features in the list of A category players released by BCCI, has revealed his first-ever paycheck.

Bhuvneshwar was participating in a question and answer session on Twitter where he gave his take on fans' queries.

The 30-year-old bowler was asked about his first paycheck by a fan and Bhuvneshwar responded by saying, "It was for Rs 3000. I shopped and still managed to saved some."

During the question and answer session Bhuvneshwar picked Barcelona striker Lionel Messi over Juventus star Cristiano Ronaldo.

The right-arm bowler also revealed that football and badminton are his favourite sports other than cricket.

Earlier this year, Bhuvneshwar was named in the list A category of players. BCCI had released the list of centrally contracted players for the period from October 2019 to September 2020. Annually, A category players get Rs 5 crore.

The right-arm bowler would have been in action for Sunrisers Hyderabad if the Indian Premier League (IPL) had commenced from March 29. However, the tournament was postponed indefinitely due to the coronavirus pandemic.

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Agencies
February 12,2020

Mumbai, Feb 12: Former Indian greats Kapil Dev and Mohammad Azharuddin have been left disappointed by the behaviour of the Under-19 team after the World Cup final where they were involved in an altercation with their Bangladeshi counterparts.

After Bangladesh won the final beating India by three wickets (via DLS) at the Senwes Park on Sunday, the players of the two teams were seen engaging in an exchange of words and even some pushing and shoving on the field.

"I would like to see the board (BCCI) take some strict action against the players to set an example. Cricket is not about abusing the opponent. I am sure there is enough reason for these youngsters to be dealt with firmly by BCCI," Kapil was quoted as saying by The Hindu.

"I welcome aggression, nothing wrong in it. But it has to be controlled aggression. You can't cross the line of decency in the name of being competitive. I would say it was unacceptable that youngsters put up such an obnoxious display on the cricket field," he added.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has sanctioned five players, including three from Bangladesh -- Towhid Hridoy, Shamim Hossain and Rakibul Hasan --and two from India --Akash Singh and Ravi Bishnoi for the scuffle.

Azharuddin also reiterated what Kapil said, insisting that players need to be disciplined.

"I would take action against the errant Under 19 players, but I also want to know what role has the support staff played in educating these youngsters. Act now before it is too late. The players have to be disciplined," Azharuddin said.

Earlier, Bishan Singh Bedi has lashed out at the Priyam Garg-led team, saying their behaviour was disgusting and disgraceful.

"You bat, bowl and field badly�happens, but there's no excuse for behaving badly. The behaviour was disgusting and most disgraceful. The innocence of that age was not visible at all," Bedi told Mid Day.

Bedi, who represented India in 67 Tests and 10 ODIs, said the behaviour of the Bangladesh cricketers is not our problem.

"Look, what Bangladesh do is their problem, what our boys do is our problem. You could see that there was abusive language used," he said.

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News Network
April 7,2020

London, Apr 7: Bowling coach Waqar Younis feels that it was the absence of pacers Wahab Riaz and Mohammad Amir which saw Pakistan getting whitewashed during Australia tour last year.

Amir and Riaz had quit the red-ball format ahead of the matches against Australia in 2019.

"Just before the Australia series, they ditched us and we had the only choice to pick youngsters.

We were the new management and decided to go on with taking in the younger lot and groom them. ESPNcricinfo quoted Younis as saying.

Pakistan was not able to win a single match in Australia as they got defeated both in T20Is and Test series.

"It's not like we have lost a lot, but yes they left us at the wrong time. But anyway, we don't have any grudge against them," Younis added.

"We cannot control players' choice on what they want to play, but then there should be a mechanism so we all are on board. "It's not like I am saying we could have won in Australia but we could have done better than what we have done," he opined.

Amir gave up the red ball format in July in order to manage his workload and extend his white-ball career for Pakistan as well as in T20 leagues around the world, while Riaz took an "indefinite break" from Test cricket in September last year.

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