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Wife of Pakistan’s Imran Khan, charged with graft, is known for spirituality

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Bushra Khan, the wife of Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan, is facing corruption charges in the same case that led to his arrest on May 9. On Monday, he accompanied her to a court that granted her protective bail, Reuters reported.

She is known for her spirituality and devotion to Sufism, a mystical form of Islam. Khan, 70, has often called Bushra his spiritual leader.

Born Bushra Riaz Watto, she changed her name to Khan after her marriage. Her husband and followers commonly refer to her as Bushra Bibi or Bushra Begum, titles that in Urdu denote respect.

She has kept a low profile since her marriage to Khan, a former cricket hero who has been in the public eye for decades.

Below are some facts about Bushra:

EARLY LIFE

Bushra, who is in her late 40s, hails from a family of landowners in Punjab. Little is known about her early life. Her first marriage, which lasted about 30 years, was to Khawar Farid Maneka, a customs officer from a politically influential Punjab family. After their divorce in 2018 he was quoted by Pakistani media as saying: “I want to clearly state about my former wife, Bushra Bibi, that I have not seen a woman as pious as her in the world”.

Bushra and Maneka have five children, Reuters reported.

MYSTIC, SECRET MARRIAGE

Both Bushra and ex-husband Maneka are devotees of Fariduddin Masud Ganjshakar, or Baba Farid, a revered Muslim mystic and Sufi saint whose shrine is located in Maneka’s hometown of Pakpattan in Punjab.

Pakistanis who admire Bushra’s devotion to the saint call her a spiritual leader while Khan’s opponents accuse her of practicing sorcery, a claim Khan’s aides have repeatedly denied. In a rare interview, Bushra told local HUM news network in 2018 that “people would come to see me to get closer to God and the Prophet”.

It was not clear when or how Khan met Bushra, but former aide Aun Chaudhry said Khan was very impressed with her spirituality.

Khan, who had acquired a playboy image in the 1990s as his cricket career took off, has previously said he was keenly interested in Sufism.

Khan and Bushra married in 2018, seven months before he was elected prime minister, in a secret ceremony. The marriage was Khan’s third after Jemima Goldsmith, daughter of business tycoon James Goldsmith, and TV journalist Reham Nayyar Khan. Both these marriages ended in divorce.

SPIRITUAL JOURNEY

A few months before Khan was elected prime minister, local media carried photos of the couple prostrating at the Baba Farid shrine. In the HUM interview, Bushra said: “Every moment of Khan sahib’s life is now dedicated to God, the Prophet and the love for Baba Farid”.

Bushra, who is always seen in public wearing a veil and a burqa that shows only her eyes, did not accompany her husband on any official overseas trips during his time in office except for visits to Saudi Arabia, where they were filmed at the holy Muslim cities of Mecca and Medina.

AL-QADIR TRUST

Members of Khan’s party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, have said Bushra inspired Khan to set up Al-Qadir Trust, a non-governmental welfare organisation that runs a university outside Islamabad devoted to spirituality and Islamic teachings.

The trust is part of the corruption charges levied against the couple. While prime minister, Khan promoted the trust at official events, and the couple are the sole trustees, according to Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar.

Khan’s party spokesman Farrukh Habib told Reuters the case was politically motivated and that the couple draw no financial benefit from the trust, read the report.

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Iran’s Supreme Leader says Trump is lying when he speaks of peace

Earlier on Saturday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Trump speaks about peace while simultaneously making threats, read the report.

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Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei accused Donald Trump on Saturday of lying when the U.S. president said during his Gulf tour this week that he wanted peace in the region, Reuters reported.

On the contrary, said Khamenei, the United States uses its power to give “10-ton bombs to the Zionist (Israeli) regime to drop on the heads of Gaza’s children”.

Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One after departing the United Arab Emirates on Friday that Iran had to move quickly on a U.S. proposal for its nuclear programme or “something bad’s going to happen”.

His remarks, said Khamenei, “aren’t even worth responding to.” They are an “embarrassment to the speaker and the American people,” Khamenei added.

“Undoubtedly, the source of corruption, war, and conflict in this region is the Zionist regime — a dangerous, deadly cancerous tumour that must be uprooted; it will be uprooted,” he said at an event at a religious centre in Tehran, according to state media.

Earlier on Saturday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Trump speaks about peace while simultaneously making threats, read the report.

“Which should we believe?” Pezeshkian said at a naval event in Tehran. “On the one hand, he speaks of peace and on the other, he threatens with the most advanced tools of mass killing.”

Tehran would continue Iran-U.S. nuclear talks but is not afraid of threats. “We are not seeking war,” Pezeshkian said.

While Trump said on Friday that Iran had a U.S. proposal about its nuclear programme, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi in a post on X said Tehran had not received any such proposal. “There is no scenario in which Iran abandons its hard-earned right to (uranium) enrichment for peaceful purposes…” he said.

Araqchi warned on Saturday that Washington’s constant change of stance prolongs nuclear talks, state TV reported.

“It is absolutely unacceptable that America repeatedly defines a new framework for negotiations that prolongs the process,” the broadcast quoted Araqchi as saying.

Pezeshkian said Iran would not “back down from our legitimate rights”.

“Because we refuse to bow to bullying, they say we are source of instability in the region,” he said.

A fourth round of Iran-U.S. talks ended in Oman last Sunday. A new round has not been scheduled yet.

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Hamas confirms new Gaza ceasefire talks with Israel in Qatar

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A new round of Gaza ceasefire negotiations between Hamas and Israel is underway in Qatar’s Doha, Hamas official Taher al-Nono told Reuters on Saturday.

He said the two sides were discussing all issues without “pre-conditions”.

Nono said Hamas was “keen to exert all the effort needed” to help mediators make the negotiations a success, adding there was “no certain offer on the table”.

The negotiations come despite Israel preparing to expand operations in the Gaza Strip as they seek “operational control” in some areas of the war-torn enclave.

The return to negotiations also comes after U.S. President Donald Trump ended a Middle East tour on Friday with no apparent progress towards a new ceasefire, although he acknowledged Gaza’s growing hunger crisis and the need for aid deliveries.

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U.S. developing plan to move 1 million Palestinians to Libya, NBC News reports

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The Trump administration is working on a plan to permanently relocate as much as one million Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to Libya, NBC News reported on Friday, citing five people with knowledge of the matter.

Citing two people with direct knowledge and a former U.S. official, NBC also reported that the plan is under serious enough consideration that the U.S. has discussed it with Libya’s leadership. In exchange for resettling the Palestinians, the administration would release to Libya billions of dollars of funds the U.S. froze more than a decade ago, according to NBC and citing the same three people.

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