Dawn Images

Actor Nimra Khan’s ‘ex-husband’ Zain Hamid claimed in a now-unavailable Instagram story that he divorced his wife on July 17 due to “irreconcilable personal differences [and] choices”, several entertainment news outlets reported on Saturday.

Screenshots purportedly of a story shared on his now-private Instagram account show Hamid confirming weeks of speculation about the couple no longer being together, saying he “had no intention to place any blame on anyone”.

Hamid claimed that the dissolution of his marriage to Khan had already been legally initiated and their lawyers were engaged in the due legal proceedings following the filing. He wished Khan “nothing but [the] best” and claimed they had an amicable parting.

Khan announced their marriage in May this year. Images has reached out to her representative for a comment.

On Sunday, Khan’s fellow actor Fiza Ali in a video posted on her own Instagram page, reacted to Hamid’s announcement, asking how many times he had to tell the world he had divorced a woman.

“How many more times must you announce [your divorce], how many mosques do you want to get it announced from, how many sermons would you like it mentioned in? Would it satisfy you to have it addressed in Parliament? You’ve gotten a divorce, not a trophy that you’re showing off to the world repeatedly,” she said.

Khan commented under the video, with emojis alluding to her grief and silence on the matter.

In her video, Ali criticised one of Hamid’s recent social media posts where he had written “finally at peace. Good riddance” in the caption, but later erased it.

In his now-unavailable story about the divorce, Hamid had claimed the remarks were “in response to the uncalled for social media posts [and] status updates for attention” and were not meant to disrespect anyone. He did not specify who was posting these updates.

Ali said she was not going to comment on the divorce itself because that was between Khan and Hamid, but she did not agree with the way Hamid “humiliated” Khan after they went their separate ways.

She said Khan’s public silence was not a sign of weakness, but of her dignity and that Islamic teachings told divorcing couples to leave each other with dignity and grace.

Ali said, “manliness does not lie in divorce, manliness lies in upholding a woman’s respect even after divorce”.

She told Khan to keep her head held high and said people should “end relationships, not reputations”.