22 Facts About Bushra Bibi

Bushra Bibi is married to Imran Khan who served as the prime minister of Pakistan from 2018 to 2022.

Bushra Bibi was born in the early 1970s into a conservative, politically active landowning family in central Punjab.

Bushra Bibi belongs to the Wattoo clan, a landowning Jat group, of whom the Manekas are a sub-clan.

Bushra Bibi has three daughters and two sons from her first marriage.

Bushra Bibi's sons graduated from the Aitchison College in Lahore in 2013, and pursued higher education abroad.

Khan and Bushra met for the first time in 2015 through Bibi's sister, Maryam Riaz Wattoo.

Bushra Bibi usually visited the town in the evening escorted by his private guards, and would later stay for a few hours at the Maneka family's residence, his local hosts, after which he would return to Islamabad.

Bushra Bibi has been described as a leader of pilgrimages to Baba Farid's shrine.

Bushra Bibi became "very pleased" when his candidate Jahangir Tareen won that election, which she had correctly predicted, and started visiting and consulting her more regularly for guidance.

Bushra Bibi has been described as an introvert who prefers to stay at home rather than attending social functions and gatherings very frequently, to which Khan admittedly has no objections, as he himself is "past the age of socialising".

Bushra Bibi was noted as the first niqab-wearing spouse of a Pakistani prime minister.

Bushra Bibi stated that her decision to wear a niqab is a personal choice in line with religious teachings and that she is not seeking to impose it on anyone else.

Bushra Bibi played a prominent role in the November 2024 PTI protest, entering Islamabad alongside thousands of PTI supporters who breached security barricades to demand Imran Khan's release.

Bushra Bibi addressed the crowd near D-Chowk, a central location close to parliament, and called for holding the protest there.

Bushra Bibi's departure prompted criticism from some protesters who felt abandoned during the violent clashes.

On 4 February 2024, Bushra Bibi was sentenced to seven years in prison along with her husband, Imran Khan, by a local court for violating Section 496 of the Pakistan Penal Code by marrying during her Iddat period.

The court concluded that Khan and Bushra Bibi had knowingly engaged in an unlawful marriage on 1 January 2018.

On 17 January 2025, Imran Khan was sentenced to 14 years' imprisonment over the Al-Qadir Trust case, while Bushra Bibi was sentenced to seven years' imprisonment in the same case.

Bushra Bibi was given a 14-year sentence in Toshakhana case alongside her husband, Imran Khan, after both were convicted of illegally profiting from state gifts while he was in office.

On 25 April 2024, Mashal Yousafzai, a spokesperson for Bushra Bibi had claimed that Bibi was poisoned in prison and faced medical negligence after two-to-three drops of "toilet cleaner" were dropped in her meal on 24 February.

Bushra Bibi was granted bail on 23 October 2024 and was released the next day.

Maneka alleges that Bushra Bibi married Khan before completion of her compulsory Iddah period required under Islamic family law.