The family of Imran Khan, the 19th Prime Minister of Pakistan and former captain of the Pakistan cricket team, is a prominent family of Pakistani origin with Niazi and Burki Pashtun ancestry. They are active in sports, politics, and the Pakistan Armed Forces. Imran, his third wife Bushra Bibi, and her children were the first family for the duration of his premiership. Imran's father Ikramullah Khan Niazi was a civil engineer, while his mother Shaukat Khanum was a housewife and daughter of a prominent civil servant. Imran has two children from his first wife, Jemima Goldsmith.
Immediate family Wives
Jemima Goldsmith
On 16 May 1995, Khan married Jemima Goldsmith, in a traditional Pakistani wedding ceremony in Paris. A month later, on 21 June, they were married again in a civil ceremony at the Richmond registry office in England, followed by a reception at the Goldsmiths' house in Surrey which was attended by London's elite. The wedding was named by the media as "The wedding of the century".
Jemima Marcelle Goldsmith is the eldest child of Lady Annabel Vane-Tempest-Stewart and Billionaire financier Sir James Goldsmith, who was one of richest men in UK. Goldsmith enrolled at the University of Bristol in 1993 and studied English, but dropped out when she was married in 1995. She eventually completed her bachelor's degree in March 2002 with upper second-class honours. In 2003, she received her MA in Middle Eastern Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, focusing on Modern Trends in Islam.
The marriage, described as "tough" by Khan, ended in 2004 after nine years. Shortly after their marriage, Imran and Jemima arrived at Zaman Park in Lahore from their honeymoon at one of the Goldsmiths' farms in Spain, and were greeted by international and local reporters. It was also announced that Jemima had converted to Islam and she would use 'Khan' as her last name.
As an agreement of his marriage, Khan spent four months a year in England and the rest in Lahore. The marriage produced two sons, Sulaiman Isa (born 18 November 1996) and Kasim (born 10 April 1999). During the marriage Jemima actively participated in a Khan led charity drive for the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital & Research Centre and also supported her husband in starting his initial political career.
Rumours circulated that the couple's marriage was in crisis. Jemima placed an advertisement in Pakistan newspapers to deny them. It read: "Whilst it is true that I am currently studying for a master's degree at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, it is certainly not true to say that Imran and I are having difficulties in our marriage. This is a temporary arrangement." On 22 June 2004, it was announced that the couple had divorced, ending the nine-year marriage because it was "difficult for Jemima to adapt to life in Pakistan" despite both their best efforts.
The marriage ended amicably. Khan described the six months leading to the divorce and the six months after as the hardest years of his life. Following their divorce, Jemima returned to England with their sons.
Reham Khan
In January 2015, Imran Khan married British Pakistani journalist and television anchor Reham Khan. The marriage was conducted via a nikah ceremony at Khan's residence in Bani Gala. The marriage ended in divorce nine months later, in October 2015.
Reham is ethnic Pashtun, belonging to the Lughmani sub-clan of the Swati tribe. She comes from Mansehra in the Hazara region of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and speaks Hindko, in addition to Pashto and Urdu.
Bushra Bibi
Khan married Bushra Bibi, who was in her 40s, on 18 February 2018 at his residence in Lahore. The couple had been introduced to each other by Bushra's sister, Maryam Riaz Wattoo, who at the time led party operations in the United Arab Emirates"PTI confirms Imran Khan's marriage to Bushra Maneka in Lahore" , Dawn, 18 February 2018. Retrieved on 1 August 2018 She is known for her connection to Sufism; prior to her marriage with Khan, she had been his spiritual mentor (murshid). Bushra has two sons and three daughters, to whom Imran is a step-father, from her first marriage to Khawar Maneka.
Children
Sulaiman Isa Khan Khan's eldest son with Jemima named Sulaiman Isa was born in November 1996 at the Portland Hospital in London.
Kasim Khan Imran's second son with Jemima named Kasim was born on 10 April 1999 in England.
Elementary family Parents Ikramullah Khan Niazi Imran Khan's father, Ikramullah Khan Niazi, was born in Mianwali on 24 April 1922. He was a civil engineer who graduated from the Imperial College London in 1946 and was a member of the IMechE. Ikramullah was a staunch supporter of the Pakistan Movement during the days of the British Raj and was "fiercely anti-colonial"; he would tell off local waiters at the Lahore Gymkhana Club who would speak to him in English. He worked in the Pakistan Public Works Department and retired in 1959 as Superintending Engineer to establish the Republic Engineering Corporation Limited, a civil engineering consultant firm which was in negotiation with the Saudi Arabian government to provide its services in February 1977.
He was also a philanthropist, founding a charity called the Pakistan Educational Society which "funded the university education of underprivileged but talented children." Ikramullah Niazi served as a board member of the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital & Research Centre (SKMCH&RC) in his later years. He died on 19 March 2008 at the age of 85 from pneumonia, after a protracted illness for which he was being treated at SKMCH&RC. He is buried at the family's ancestral graveyard in Mianwali.
Shaukat Khanum
Imran's mother, Shaukat Khanum, was a housewife. Born in 1922 in Jullundur to Ahmed Hassan Khan and Amir Bano , she belonged to a Burki Pashtun family. She was the youngest child and had one brother, Ahmed Raza, and two sisters: Iqbal Bano, the wife of Wajid Ali Khan Burki and mother of cricketer Javed Burki, and Naema Khanum, the wife of Jahangir Khan and mother of cricketer Majid Khan.
Imran credits his mother as having played a deep influential role in his upbringing. Recalling that he grew up with religion, with his mother teaching him Islamic history through bedtime stories. She told him tales of Moses and Pharaoh, Joseph and his brothers, and the life of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad, each carrying a moral lesson.
One story that deeply resonated with Imran was about an elderly Meccan who wanted to convert to Islam because his entire clan had done so but admitted that he was too old to change his habits. The Prophet Muhammad advised him, "Tell the truth. That is the one thing you need to be a Muslim."
She also shared how her father, Ahmed Hassan Khan, modeled his life after the Prophet, with Ahmed often saying, "This is what the Prophet did," even in small habits like his fondness for honey and dates.
In 1985, she died at the age of 63 due to cancer. The helplessness and personal experience of seeing his mother diagnosed with cancer, motivated Khan to build a cancer hospital in Pakistan where those who could not afford expensive care could be treated well. In 1994, the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital & Research Centre was founded by Khan in Lahore, and named in memory of his mother. A second Shaukat Khanum cancer hospital has been inaugurated in Peshawar, while plans are underway for a third hospital to be located in Karachi.
Siblings Khan has four sisters: Rubina Khanum, Aleema Khanum, Uzma Khanum and Noreen Niazi.
Khan's elder sister, Rubina Khanum, is an alumnus of the London School of Economics and held a senior post with the United Nations.
Aleema Khanum is an entrepreneur and philanthropist who is the founder of a Lahore-based textile buying house, CotCom Sourcing (Pvt.) Ltd. She graduated with an MBA from the Lahore University of Management Sciences in 1989. Her textile buying house has served textile retailers and agents across the globe, and maintains representative offices in Karachi and New York. Aleema served as marketing director for the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Trust Hospital, and played an instrumental role in fundraising efforts for the hospital. She is a member of the board of governors of the hospital. She is also a member of the board of the Imran Khan Foundation and Namal Education Foundation, and several charitable and social welfare organisations including the Hameed Muggo Trust and the SAARC Association of Home-Based Workers.
Of Khan's other sisters, Uzma Khanum is a qualified surgeon based in Lahore while Rani Khanum is a university graduate who coordinates charity activities.
Shortly after her marriage to Imran Khan, Jemima Khan acknowledged the support she received from Khan's sisters while adjusting to life in Lahore and described them as "educated, strong women, with lives of their own."
Paternal family
Imran Khan's father belonged to the Niazi Pashtun tribe, who were long settled in Mianwali in northwestern Punjab.Encyclopaedia Asiatica, Comprising Indian Subcontinent, Eastern and Southern Asia: H. Jangtang By Edward Balfour Published by Cosmo Publications, 1976 Item notes: v. 4 Original from the University of Michigan Page 188 Khan's paternal family hail from the Shermankhel sub-clan of the Niazis. One of Imran's ancestors was said to have killed a lion with his bare hands during a hunting expedition. He reportedly entered Mianwali carrying the lion on his shoulders, and the event left such an impression that his clan became known as Shermankhel, meaning "descendants of the lion killer."
The Niazis had come to the subcontinent with invading Afghan tribes during the fifteenth century. Imran identifies Haibat Khan Niazi as a paternal ancestor, a sixteenth century military general of Sher Shah Suri and later governor of Punjab.
The Niazis mainly speak Saraiki and are based in Mianwali and surrounding areas, where family and tribal networks are strong and where, according to Khan, "even third cousins know each other".
Grandparents Imran Khan's paternal grandfather, Muhammad Azeem Khan Niazi, was a physician. His paternal family's ancestral haveli (mansion), known as Azeem Manzil, is located in Shermankhel Mahallah, Mianwali. Named after his grandfather who built it, the mansion remains home to Khan's extended relatives. It spans ten kanals, with the family's ancestral graveyard—where his paternal grandfather, grandmother, and father are buried—situated nearby.
Khan began his political campaign from Mianwali in 2002, winning his first seat in the National Assembly from the city which he calls his hometown.
Uncles Azeem Khan Niazi had four sons: Ikramullah Khan Niazi (Imran's father), Amanullah Khan Niazi, Zafarullah Khan Niazi, and Faizullah Khan Niazi. Imran's paternal uncle Amanullah was a lawyer and politician, serving as a senior member of the Muslim League, while Zafarullah Khan Niazi was a businessman. Imran's father, Ikramullah, along with his uncles Zafarullah and Amanullah, previously lived in the family haveli, which now belongs to Khan's cousin, Inamullah Niazi.
Cousins Zafarullah Khan Niazi had several sons, including Khan's paternal cousin Inamullah Niazi; a politician and former parliamentarian who was a member of the Pakistan Muslim League (N) for nearly two decades, before becoming senior vice-president of Khan's Tehreek-e-Insaf in Punjab in 2013. He later rejoined the PML (N), following a dispute over election ticket distributions. Inamullah's brother and occasional columnist Hafeez Ullah Niazi is also Imran's brother-in-law, through cousin marriage to Imran's sister. They have other brothers, including Irfan Ullah Khan Niazi, and their youngest brother, the late Najeebullah Khan Niazi.Member Profile , Punjab government