I suspect it could be Motu, an offspring of Sheru, that is causing the disturbance. But then, Motu is not really an indoor type.
The former Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf is blamed for many things — ranging from a coup, the Kargil war, to the debacle with Bugti and Lal Masjid. But not many people may know that much of Imran Khan’s current problems are also Mushy’s doings.
The general fled Pakistan but Imran inherited quite a few gems from him.
For the purpose of this article, I will only mention those that have been declared by the party leader.
Musharraf’s two creations: One is Imran’s now-disqualified right-hand man Jahangir Tareen, who is still functioning as the secretary general of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf and arranging finances for the big 29 April party event in Lahore. The other is the property giant Aleem Khan, who fears he is next in line for disqualification.
But neither of them have generated as many headlines as Sheru, the dog.
I was told that Musharraf left his collection of dogs in the safe hands of Air Marshal Asghar Khan, the leader of Tehreek-i-Istiqlal (a political party). One of them, an Alsatian was given to Imran.
I met Sheru in 2013. I remember the dog falling in love with me immediately. But he died soon afterwards.
When I moved into the Bannigala home, I brought my beautiful Belgian shepherd Maximus with me. It took no time for Imran to ditch all his other dogs, allowing Maximus alone the privilege of sleeping with him in his bedroom.
When I left Imran, Maximus came with me too.
Imran likes handsome dogs. A dog I had insisted on keeping, whom he referred to as Pidu, was also not to his taste because his ears had been cut off at birth.
I tried to protect him as much as I could but one day I was sure poor Pidu had met his end. We were returning from dinner and Imran, with his trademark reckless driving, ran him over. In the dark all I heard was the helpless yelping of the dog.
In stunned silence I walked to my room, too upset to speak or look at the dog. Surprisingly, the dog escaped with a slight injury but Imran banished him after that incident. Before Sheru, a beautiful Kochi dog had died from dehydration as Imran was on a trek and had forgotten about the dog.
So who is this dog allegedly causing friction in Imran’s matrimonial affairs and being discussed everywhere in Pakistan now?
Some have made rather cruel jokes about Sheru, and said the dog was perhaps not of a canine variety. I suspect it could be Motu, an offspring of Sheru,that is causing the disturbance. But then, Motu is not really an indoor type.
It could be the dog brought into the house by Imran’s favourite PTI candidate, the ‘very passionate Zartaj Gul’. But since that addition wasn’t of a recognisable pedigree, the dog remained nameless. When no dog was around, Imran would whistle for it and use any name that he could think of from his not-so-vast vocabulary of dog names.
So it could be Motu or Pidu or Bhalu or it maybe a new gift from somewhere? But please let Sheru rest in peace.
Reham Khan is a journalist, child rights activist, and single parent in Pakistan. The full story about the dogs appears in the author’s forthcoming book titled Reham Khan.