ISLAMABAD: The Pakis­tan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) confirmed on Sunday that its chairman Imran Khan had married Bushra Maneka — the lady he used to visit to seek spiritual guidance.

The PTI confirmed the third marriage of the cricketer-turned-politician by officially releasing photographs of the nikah ceremony showing Mr Khan with the bride, her relatives and his political secretary Aun Chaudhry and close friend Zulfi Bukhari.

A party spokesman, when contacted, claimed that nikah was solemnised at a simple ceremony in Lahore on Sunday and it was performed by Mufti Saeed — the man who had also performed the second nikah of Mr Khan with TV personality Reham Khan in 2015.

The news that Imran Khan had “secretly” married Bushra Maneka on Jan 1 had first surfaced in the media on Jan 6, but like in the case of his second marriage, it was immediately denied by the party as well as Mr Khan.

Later, the party claimed that Mr Khan had made a marriage proposal to Bushra Maneka and a response in this regard was still awaited.

On the other hand, the reporter who had broken the news kept on insisting that his report was based on facts. He still claims that Mr Khan had married Ms Maneka on Jan 1 and that the photos released by the party on Sunday were old.

Imran Khan, who remains in controversy over the issue of his marriages and has been active on social media in making comments on the political situation, is yet to come up with a statement on the matter.

Mr Khan’s second marriage also remained controversial as it was solemnised at a time when the party’s protest sit-in against alleged poll rigging was at its peak. At that time too, Mr Khan kept on denying media reports about his marriage in November 2014, until its official confirmation in January 2015.

Bushra Maneka had previously married to a government servant and they got separation last year, reportedly saying they had opted for dissolution of marriage due to some “spiritual reasons”.

Imran Khan had first tied the knots with British national Jemima Khan on May 16, 1995. It had also ended in divorce after nine years on June 22, 2004. His second marriage with Reham Khan continued for only 10 months.

The PTI on its official page on Twitter has congratulated the party chairman on his new marriage. “Wishing Chairman Imran Khan and his wife a happy married life. May Allah bless the couple,” reads the message.

PTI’s newly appointed information secretary Fawad Chaudhry told Dawn that the nikah ceremony was held at the residence of Imran Khan’s brother-in-law [biradar nisbati] Ahmed Wattoo in Lahore. He said the party workers and members were happy over the marriage of their leader and they had expressed their best wishes for the couple.

Published in Dawn, February 19th, 2018