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Jemima praises Pakistani culture

Jemima Khan, the glamorous former wife of cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan, has praised Pakistanis for taking good care of senior citizens.

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ISLAMABAD: Jemima Khan, the glamorous former wife of cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan, has praised Pakistanis for taking good care of senior citizens and said the world could take lessons from certain aspects of life in Islamic societies.
     
"In my experience of living in Pakistan, old people are valued for their wisdom and experience, and their slower pace doesn't prevent them from making a vital contribution to the family and community. A person who fails to take care of a parent or grandparent becomes a virtual pariah," she said.
    
Jemima, who had two children from Khan during their nine years of marriage and has of late become "an expert (of sorts) on Islam and Pakistan", also praised Islam for encouraging the faithful to take good care of the elderly in an article in the Sunday Telegraph .
     
"There are practices that we rightly abhor and condemn in some Islamic countries. These are well documented: the public floggings, the apostasy laws and rape laws. There are, though, aspects of life in Islamic societies that we might learn from. One is that for every year a person gains in age, he/she also gains in respect.
     
"Islam stresses the importance of respect for your parents ("Paradise lies at the feet of the mother" according to Prophet Mohammed) and the aged are accorded the highest social standing of all. For the elderly in Pakistan there are no endless years of staring into space in a home, unwanted, alone and a burden on society," she wrote.
    
Jemima's latest offering, like always, was widely commented upon -- but mostly for factual errors.     

"Jemima Khan rightly says that old people are not well respected in western society. However, respect for elders goes back much further than Islam.
    
"This is true of Hinduism and Buddhism where elders are highly regarded. I suspect this is true of atheists in China, too. So I would say it is commonly Asian to have due respect of your elders and not a specific Islamic attitude," read a comment to the article.
    
Jemima's eulogising of Queen Elizabeth  who she said everyone deeply respects in Britain  did little to help her build a case for the elderly with the readers.
    
"Next week the Queen, at 81 years old, will become the longest-serving monarch in British history. She has been on the throne for an astonishing 55 years: the majority of the population have never known any other monarch," she pointed out.
    
Jemima's observation on the "longest-serving monarch" was bombarded with several "case of poor research" comments.
     
"Longest serving monarch? I think Jemima might mean oldest monarch. Queen Victoria 1819-1901 is probably the monarch that Elizabeth II is about to overtake in age," wrote Simon Coulter.
     
Another reader Martin Evans added: "King George III (1760-1820) did 60 years and Queen Victoria (1837-1901) did 64 years, so the Queen has another 9 years to go before she becomes a record breaker."
     
Many also poked fun at her concept of "granny dumping".

"Last year there were an estimated 70,000 cases of 'granny dumping', in which old people, usually senile, were left uncared for by relatives. Some were even abandoned at the roadside," Jemima wrote.     

But one reader responded: "I have never heard of anyone dumping their old person on the side of the road here. If it did happen, it certainly isn't a common practice. Where did you get your information?"
    
Jemima, who has been regularly writing opinion pieces for newspapers, especially the Sunday Telegraph, has, in fact, irked many readers: "Why does the Telegraph insist on elevating Jemima Khan to the status of sage and political expert on Pakistan and Islam?" wrote reader Fergus Downie.
     
Meanwhile, Jemima's friends are wondering if she would ever find a man to match Imran Khan. There has even been gossip that they may rekindle their extraordinary mismatch of a marriage. Jemima broke up with actor Hugh Grant earlier this year.

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