Will Imran Khan ever succeed to rid of his ‘playboy’ image?

By Moniba Ali

(Pak Destiny) As social sarcastic remarks, jokes and funny comments are pouring in on social media in connection with Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chairman Imran Khan’s third marriage with her spiritual adviser Bushra Wattoo, the British media did not lag behind breaking this news with a little masala.

Daily Mail, a British tabloid writes “Pakistani politician and former playboy cricketer Imran Khan has married a woman described as his ‘spiritual adviser’ in a private ceremony this weekend.”

Khan, who has previously been married to socialite Jemima Khan and TV presenter Reham Khan, married Bushra Wattoo in the eastern city of Lahore on Sunday.  In stark contrast to the 65-year-old’s previous weddings, which garnered much attention thanks to the celebrity status of both Khan and his brides, the one on Sunday was held under the radar.

“Khan, once known internationally for his high-profile tabloid romances, cuts a more conservative persona in Pakistan, often carrying prayer beads and nurturing beliefs in living saints.”

Jemima was just 21 years old when she met the 42-year-old Imran Khan, and the couple married in 1995 – first in an Islamic ceremony in Paris and then in a civil ceremony in Richmond, London.  Having converted to Islam, she followed her new husband to Lahore, Pakistan where she learned to speak Urdu. The couple have two sons, Sulaiman Isa, born in 1996, and Qasim, born in 1999.

The Mail further writes – During their marriage, she established herself as a philanthropist and social campaigner, fighting for the rights of refugees, freedom of information and various political causes. She also began working as a journalist from Pakistan, writing for various British newspapers, and set up a fashion label where the profits were donated to the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital, named after her mother-in-law.

During their marriage she was subjected to abuse by Imran Khan’s political opponents or those who disagreed with his involvement in politics. Khan blamed Nawaz Sharif and company for the dirty politics they are used to target their opponents. Sharifs used to do this dirty things with slain prime minister of Pakistan Benazir Bhutto.

After nine years of marriage in 2004, the couple announced that they would divorce, citing Jemima’s difficulties to settle in Pakistan.

Here come the British-Pakistani Reham Khan was born in Ajdabiya, Libya in 1973. After studies in Pakistan, she began working as a  broadcast journalist in the UK in the mid-noughties, including as a weather presenter for BBC South Today. After moving to Pakistan in 2012, she met Imran Khan when she interviewed him for a local TV show.

Her relationship with Imran Khan remained secret until the end of 2014 when Jemima Goldsmith announced she was going to return to her maiden name because Imran was going to remarry.

They couple married in January 2015 in a ceremony at his Islamabad home, but divorced ten months later.

After the divorce, Reham revealed that she – like Jemima – had been subjected to a hate campaign in Pakistan and that their marriage had not survived it.

Now here enters  Bushra Wattoo, a mother-of-five who divorced her first husband last year. She is said to be Imran Khan’s ‘spiritual healer’ and the pair reportedly met two years ago during an election campaign. Wattoo, who is also known as ‘Pinki’, comes from a deeply conservative family from eastern Punjab.

Khan is still struggling to un-tag him from ‘playboy’ image. Let’s see if he could ever succeed or see the demise of his party in forthcoming general election because of his libido issues. – Pak Destiny