Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, the cricketer-turned-politician, married Bushra Maneka in a simple ceremony held in Lahore in 2018. This marked the third time the former Pakistan captain married in his life. Imran’s previous two marriages ended in divorce. His first marriage was with Jemima Goldsmith, daughter of a British billionaire, in 1995, which lasted nine years. Imran has two sons from Jemima. His second marriage with TV anchor Reham Khan in 2015 ended after a brief 10 months. Imran Khan reportedly made his first visits to Bushra in 2017 in order to seek spiritual advice from her. Imran Khan left the whole country surprised when he married her in a private ceremony in February 2018. Six months later, the cricketer-turned-politician was elected the Prime Minister of Pakistan. Here are 10 lesser-known facts about Imran Khan’s latest wife:
1. Bushra Maneka is reported to be in her 40s and was earlier married to Khawar Farid Maneka, a senior customs official in Islamabad. As per reports, Bushra is a known Pir (faith healer) in Pakpattan.
2. Bushra has five children with Khawar. Khawar Farid Maneka, reportedly, is the son of Ghulam Farid Maneka, an experienced politician and former federal minister.
3. Bushra is a resident of Pakpatan district, some 250 km from Lahore, which is known for the shrine of Baba Farid Ganj Shakar.
4. The third wife of Imran Khan belongs to the popular Wattoo clan. The Wattoo clan in Bahawalpur has a different tradition of their origin. They claim descent from Wattoo, 8th in descent from Rajah Jaisal, the founder of Jaisalmer. Bushra Maneka is popularly known as Pinki Bibi or Pinky ‘pirni (holy woman)’ in the area.
5. Atish Taseer, while writing for Vanity Fair, quoted a journalist as saying that Bushra Bibi has two jinns and when people seek her guidance, she asks them for “great vats of cooked meat,” that she “fed to the jinns she has kept at her disposal”.
6. As per the story doing the rounds in Pakistan, she had a prophetic vision that no quantity of cooked meat would be enough to realise Imran Khan’s ambition of becoming the Pakistani PM.
7. A voice told her that if Imran Khan wanted to become the Pakistani PM, it was necessary for him to marry the right woman, i.e. one of the family members of Maneka.
8. A version of this so-called “rumour” suggests that Maneka had earlier asked Khan to marry her sister; another account claims that she had offered her daughter. However, Maneka dreamt once again and this time, the voice told her that she, a married woman and a mother of five, would have to marry Imran.
9. Bushra Maneka’s husband then agreed to give her a divorce, hailing Imran Khan as a “disciple of our spiritual family”.
10. A report says that Imran Khan was very impressed by Bushra after their first brief meeting. During the later meetings, Bushra often gave verses to Imran Khan to recite and also gave him a ring to draw good fortune.
