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London: Jemima Goldsmith, the ex-British wife of Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan, has launched a bitter attack on her ex-husband's government for withdrawing the appointment of a renowned economist, Atif Mian. .
Goldsmith (44), who is prolific on social media, tweeted his disappointment at Khan's seeming inclination for extreme right-wing pressure to remove Mian from his Ahmadiyya faith.
Ahmadis are non-Muslims designated in the Constitution of Pakistan and their beliefs are considered blasphemous in most major schools of Islamic thought. They are often targeted by extremists and their vandalized places of worship.
She says:
Indefensible & disappointing v. New Pak Gov asks a renowned and respected economics professor to step down due to his Ahmadiyya faith. NB: The founder of Pakistan, "Quaid-I-Azam", has appointed an Ahmadi as Foreign Minister. https://t.co/qBubETGwOg
– Jemima Goldsmith (@Jemima_Khan) September 7, 2018
Goldsmith, a leading columnist and activist in the UK, continued to tweet a second message in reference to that, which quoted Jinnah from 1947 when Pakistan was created as a result of partitioning with India.
"You are free, you are free to go to your temples.You are free to go to your mosques or any other place of worship in this state of Pakistan.You can belong to any one. which religion, a caste of faith that has nothing to do with the affairs of the state, "reads the quote from Jinnah.
Goldsmith, who has two sons with Imran, was among the first to congratulate him for his victory in the general election, but also issued a note of caution in his Twitter message in July.
Image of the file of Jemima Goldsmith, former wife of Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan. Reuters
She said at the time: "22 years later, after the humiliations, the obstacles and the sacrifices, the father of my sons is the next Prime Minister of Pakistan.
"It's an incredible lesson in tenacity, conviction and refusal to accept defeat.The challenge now is to remember why he entered politics in the first place." Congratulations. "
The sister of Conservative MP Zac Goldsmith is known for his outspokenness.
The attack on her ex-husband's methods follows the growing criticism of the Imran-led government for yielding to extremist pressures by removing the appointment of the leading economist because he belonged to a minority religion.
This decision triggered the resignation of other members of the Economic Advisory Council, including Dr. Imran Rasul, a London-based economist who stated that he "strongly disagreed" with the circumstances in which Mian had been invited to resign from the board.
"Basing decisions on religious affiliation runs counter to my principles or values that I try to teach my children," he said.
Earlier, Dr. Asim Ijaz Khwaja, professor of international finance and development at Harvard Kennedy School, also announced his decision to resign from the advisory council in protest.
The first meeting of the newly reconstituted 18-member council was chaired by Imran on Thursday.
With the resignation of Rasul, the three international economists of Pakistani-born board members are no longer part of the consultative body.
In response to pressure from extremists, the Pakistani government on Friday withdrew the appointment of renowned economist Mian from the newly-formed Economic Advisory Council, according to media reports.
Mian, a Pakistani-American economics professor trained at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology at the prestigious Princeton University, has recently been appointed a member of EAC, which has 18 members, to advise the government on economic policy. He is the only Pakistani to be among the top 25 economists of the International Monetary Fund.
His appointment sparked controversy after being opposed by several individuals and groups, including the radical Islamist party Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), who opposed his Ahmadiyya faith.
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