MULTAN, March 14: Former Punjab governor Ghulam Mustafa Khar, 67, contracted his eighth marriage here on Thursday.

The bride, Ayonia Mumtaz Marral, is said to be a niece of his step-brother Malik Naseer’s wife.

Family sources said the two first met at a Lahore hospital where Naseer was under treatment. “It was a love-at-first-sight affair.”

The marriage was solemnized quietly. Only six people including the bridegroom formed the baraat procession. Bride’s family, too, had not invited even some near relatives. The ‘baraat’ started from Naseer Khar’s house in Justice Hameed Colony, Multan. The bride’s family, too, lives in the same area.

Mustafa Khar, clad in shalwar-kameez, was apparently embarrassed to be confronted by journalists. He did not attend the reception given by his brother Ghulam Miladi Khar at his residence, also in Justice Hameed Colony. Instead he boarded a Lahore-bound evening flight.

Mr Khar is learnt to have gifted a considerable fortune to the bride.