Some liaisons worth remembering at a time when the American woman Cynthia Ritchie reveals her experiences with some politicians in Pakistan that took place years ago.
ByJ. Enver | September 2020
Certain revelations made by an American woman Cynthia Ritchie against senior Pakistani politicians have opened the floodgates of narratives that have attracted the attention of newspapers and magazines, are the subject of discussion in books, have been touched upon in films, fed television shows or have simply made the usual rounds of conversation and gossip in personal contacts between people at all levels.
Our cover story this month centres on the various revelations that Cynthia Ritchie is going around making. We are carrying her exclusive interview given to this magazine and printing articles produced specially by our writers for this story.
At the same time, we are reminded of some other ‘liaisons’ that have occurred between some of the most well-known people over the past decades. Whether these contacts or relationships, or call it what will, had an impact on the personal or professional lives of the people in question, is something for history to decide
Our narrative begins with the first Prime Minister of India (after Partition) Jawaharlal Nehru and Lady Edwina Mountbatten, wife of the last British Viceroy and first Governor-General of independent India, Lord Louis Mountbatten. Much has been written about what has been described as a ‘torrid’ love affair between Nehru and Edwina and it is obvious the two had more than a ‘liking’ for each other. But that this affair had a bearing on the history of the subcontinent is not clear.
After Partition, the British Viceroy continued as the first Governor-General of India while Jawaharlal Nehru was his prime minister. The Mountbattens had come to India in February 1947 and left in June 1948. This means Nehru must have had the opportunity to visit the Mountbattens or to meet them on many occasions during this period, extremely tumultuous though it must have been. The relations between Edwina and Nehru must have had an opportunity to blossom in this period.
In her book, Pamela Hicks, daughter of the Mountbattens, says that her mother Edwina and Jawaharlal Nehru deeply loved each other but did not have the time or the space for a physical relationship.
Pamela writes that her mother and Nehru shared a “profound relationship” that bloomed after Edwina arrived in India along with her husband Lord Louis Mountbatten in 1947.
Pamela was 17-years old then and says that she saw the first stages of what would go on to become a relationship based on “equality of spirit and intellect”. Reading Nehru’s inner thoughts and feelings for her mother in his letters to her, made Pamela “realize how deeply he and my mother loved and respected each other”.
“She found in Panditji the companionship and equality of spirit and intellect that she craved,” Pamela writes about her mother. The story of Nehru and Edwina was always kept under wraps. After Edwina left India with her husband, Nehru focused devotedly to matters of statecraft and emerged as an outstanding leader.
Pamela Hicks, daughter of the Mountbattens, says that her mother Edwina and Jawaharlal Nehru deeply loved each other.
In the United States of America in the early sixties, after David Eisenhower had played his role of building his country as a mighty technological machine after the challenges the U.S. had faced in the 2nd World War, the young John Kennedy came to power. His time was one of liberalism and open-mindedness. It is said that in the spirit of the times, the beautiful actress Marilyn Monroe made inroads into Kennedy’s life. As she rose to fame as a beautiful Hollywood actress, she even built up an affair with President John F. Kennedy.
According to some sources, the youthful John Kennedy was already thought to be a playboy. Things came to a head when Marilyn Monroe performed the song “Happy Birthday” at New York’s Madison Square Garden in May 1962 to mark John Kennedy’s 45th birthday. It was this performance that the public considered ‘proof’ of the long-rumoured affair.
Less than three months after the famous performance, Marilyn was found dead from an accidental overdose of barbiturates, leaving behind a lifetime of unconfirmed rumours of a relationship between her and the US President. Despite the fact that JFK’s philandering ways were well known, his relationship with Marilyn Monroe may just have been a passing infatuation. It was certainly not a torrid, persisting affair that people talk about.
From the early 60s, the world is transported to the late nineties when the then serving American President Bill Clinton and White House internee Monica Lewinsky had an actual sexual relationship. The affair between the two was confirmed as a physical one. Nothing of the sort had ever been brought to light at any time before concerning a sitting US President and any other woman.
Bill Clinton was impeached by the House of Representatives for the act after he admitted to it but was allowed to carry on in office by the U.S. Senate. His admission came in a taped grand jury testimony on August 17, 1998, to the effect that he had engaged in an “improper physical relationship” with Monika Lewinsky. He also admitted in a nationally televised statement that his relationship with Monica was “not appropriate”.
Though Hillary Clinton remained supportive of her husband throughout the scandal, despite the betrayal and public humiliation, this was a dark chapter in American history.
Why Bill Clinton do what he did? Talking to documentary makers Hulu, he said, “What I did was bad but it wasn’t like I thought, let’s think about the most stupid thing I could possibly do and do it.”
“You feel like you’re staggering around - you’ve been in a 15-round prize-fight that was extended to 30 rounds, and here’s something that’ll take your mind off it for a while. Everybody has life’s pressures and disappointments and terrors, fears or whatever, things I did to manage my anxieties for years.”
Such is the role of statecraft in American life that in both incidents, the one involving Marilyn Monroe and John Kennedy and the one concerning Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky, American politics or American life as a whole, was never the casualty. John Kennedy’s presidential stint was cut short as he was assassinated in 1963 while Bill Clinton was already in his second stint.
There is also one known incident in Pakistan in which a woman came into a politician’s life, reportedly to take advantage of his immense popularity and create her own place in the world of politics. That was Reham Khan. May years after his divorce from Jemima Khan, it seemed Imran Khan had finally grown a liking for Reham. The feeling was obviously mutual. On 6 January 2015, Imran Khan confirmed his marriage to Reham but this marriage ended the same year on 30 October 2015 in a divorce.
In Pakistan, Cynthia Ritchie who has been in and out of the country for the past 10 years, has now thought of rocking the boat. Are Cynthia’s claims in the right spirit and do Pakistani politics really need such an intrusion? There are many questions that impact the national political profile. The sooner these questions are addressed, the better it will be for the country to move onwards on its forward path.
Certain revelations made by an American woman Cynthia Ritchie against senior Pakistani politicians have opened the floodgates of narratives that have attracted the attention of newspapers and magazines, are the subject of discussion in books, have been touched upon in films, fed television shows or have simply made the usual rounds of conversation and gossip in personal contacts between people at all levels. 
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