Daily Times

LAHORE: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Sunday confirmed that Imran Khan had tied the knot for a third time.

The PTI released photographs of Imran’s third marriage on Sunday. The pictures show Imran’s nikah with Bushra Bibi. Imran’s friend Zulfi Bukhari and PTI leader Aun Chaudhry were the witnesses to Imran’s nikah. Imran’s political secretary Awn Chaudhry can also be seen in the pictures.

PTI spokesperson Fawad Chaudhry confirmed the development, saying that the ceremony was held at Manika’s resident. Inamul Haq said that only close relatives participated in the ceremony and Mufti Saeed performed the nikah in the presence of witnesses. The ceremony was held a low-profile according to the desire of Imran Khan, he added.

In January, news reports had claimed that Khan had married for the third time in a secret ceremony on January 1, saying that Mufti Saeed had performed the nikkah. PTI, which had originally refuted the claim, clarified a few days after the report that Khan had proposed to Bushra Maneka from Pakpattan.

Soon after, the party leader had also broken his silence through a series of tweets, saying, “My crime is wanting to get married” and that he was looking for “personal happiness”.

Bushra Maneka is in her 40s, and belongs to the Wattoo clan, of which the Manekas are a sub-clan. She was earlier married to a bureaucrat, based in Islamabad.

The PTI chief has been married twice before. His first marriage was with Jemima Goldsmith, daughter of a British billionaire in 1995. The couple divorced in 2004.

Khan’s second marriage was with Reham Khan, which was dissolved only 10 months after they got married in January, 2015.

Published in Daily Times, February 19^th 2018.