Family of Imran Khan

Jemima Khan.

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.[5] 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,[2] 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).[6] 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 couples 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."[7] On 22 June 2004, it was announced that the Khan had divorced ending the nine-year marriage because it was "difficult for Jemima to adapt to life in Pakistan" despite both their best efforts.[8]

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. After the divorce Jemima returned to Britain with the boys. According to the divorce settlement, Khan's sons visit him in Pakistan during their school holidays while he stays with his former mother-in-law, Lady Annabel Goldsmith, when he comes to London to see them. According to Jemima, Imran and she have remained on very good terms even after the divorce.

In January 2015, Imran Khan married British Pakistani journalist and television anchor Reham Khan, after months of speculation. The marriage was conducted via a simple nikah ceremony at Khan's residence in Bani Gala.[9] The marriage ended in divorce nine months later, in October 2015.[3]

Reham is an ethnic Pashtun, belonging to the Lughmani sub-clan of the Swati tribe.[10] She hails from Mansehra in the Hazara region of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,[10] and speaks the local dialect Hindko, in addition to Pashto and Urdu.[11]

Khan married Bushra Bibi, who was in her 40s, on 18 February 2018 at his residence at Lahore.[12] She is known for her connection to Sufism; prior to her marriage with Khan, she had been his spiritual mentor (murshid).[4] Bushra has two sons and three daughters, to whom Imran is a step-father, from her first marriage to Khawar Maneka.[4]

Khan has two sons from his marriage with Jemima, Suleiman Isa Khan (b. 18 November 1996) and Qasim Khan (b. 10 April 1999)[6] Following their divorce, Jemima returned to England with their sons. As per a mutual settlement, Khan's sons visit him in Pakistan during their school holidays while he stays with his former mother-in-law, Lady Annabel Goldsmith, when he visits London to see them.[8][13]

In addition to these, there is an allegation claiming that Imran has a child other than Suleiman and Qasim. Khan's alleged partner Sita White took a legal action against Khan.[14] The court ruled that Tyrian Jade White is his daughter.[15] However, Imran Khan has denied these allegations.[16]

In response to Califorinian court ruling. Imran Khan said Fri, 15 August 1997, 01:00 "As I do not live in California or in England, my response is to welcome Sita White to Pakistan, where I live," he said.

"And I would more than welcome the opportunity to present my side of the story in a Pakistani court rather than conducting an undignified trial by media.

"I will, of course, be prepared to submit to a blood test in Pakistan and will fully stand by the decision of the competent Pakistani courts." [17]

Khan was born in Lahore, the only son of Ikramullah Khan Niazi, a civil engineer, and his wife Shaukat Khanum.[1] A quiet and shy boy in his youth, Khan grew up with his four sisters in relatively affluent (upper middle-class) circumstances[18] and received a privileged education. Khan's parents were moderate and practicing Muslims.[19]

Khan's father, Ikramullah Khan Niazi, was born in Mianwali on 24 April 1922.[20] He was a civil engineer who graduated from the Imperial College London in 1946.[1] 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.[21] He worked in the Pakistan Public Works Department.[22] He was also a philanthropist, founding a charity called the Pakistan Educational Society which "funded the university education of underprivileged but talented children."[19] Ikramullah Niazi served as a board member of the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital & Research Centre during his later years.[23] He died on 19 March 2008 at the age of 85 from pneumonia, after a protracted illness for which he was being treated at Shaukat Khanum cancer hospital. He is buried at the family's ancestral graveyard in Mianwali.[24][20]

Khan's mother, Shaukat Khanum, was a housewife. She was born in Jalandhar, before the partition of India.[25] He credits his mother as having played a deeply influential role in his upbringing.[26] In 1985, she died due to cancer. The helplessness and personal experience of seeing his mother diagnosed with cancer, which became the cause of her death, motivated Khan to build a cancer hospital in Pakistan where those who could not afford expensive care could be treated. In 1994, the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital & Research Centre was founded by Khan in Lahore, and named in memory of his mother.[27][28] A second Shaukat Khanum cancer hospital has been inaugurated in Peshawar, while plans are underway for a third hospital to be located in Karachi.[22]

Khan has four sisters, namely Rubina Khanum, Aleema Khanum, Uzma Khanum and Rani Khanum.[29]

Khan's elder sister, Rubina Khanum, is an alumnus of the London School of Economics and held a senior post with the United Nations.[23][29]

Aleema Khanum[30] is an entrepreneur and philanthropist who is the founder of a Lahore-based textile buying house, CotCom Sourcing (Pvt.) Ltd.[31][32] She graduated with an MBA from the Lahore University of Management Sciences in 1989.[31] Her textile buying house has served textile retailers and agents across the globe, and maintains representative offices in Karachi and New York.[33][34] Aleema served as marketing director for the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Trust, and played an instrumental role in fundraising efforts for the hospital.[31] She is a member of the board of governors of the hospital.[35] She is also a member of the board of the Imran Khan Foundation and Namal Education Foundation,[36] and several charitable and social welfare organisations including the Hameed Muggo Trust and the SAARC Association of Home-Based Workers.[31]

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.[29]

Shortly after her marriage to Imran Khan, Jemima 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."[23]

Imran Khan's paternal grandfather, Azeem Khan Niazi, was a physician. The ancestral haveli (mansion) of Khan's paternal family is located in Shermankhel Mohallah, Mianwali, and is known as Azeem Manzil (named after his paternal grandfather, who built it), where Khan's extended relatives still reside.[40][41][42] It is spread over an area of ten kanals, and the family's ancestral graveyard where Imran's paternal grandfather, grandmother as well his father are buried, lies nearby.[40][24]

Khan kicked off his political campaign from Mianwali in 2002, winning his first seat in the National Assembly from the city which he calls his hometown.[41]

Azeem Khan Niazi had four sons: Ikramullah Khan Niazi (Imran's father), Amanullah Khan Niazi, Zafarullah Khan Niazi and Faizullah Khan Niazi.[42] Imran's paternal uncle Amanullah Khan Niazi was a lawyer and politician who was a senior member of the Muslim League.[43][44] Zafarullah Khan Niazi was a businessman.[42] Imran's father Ikramullah and uncles Zafarullah and Amanullah previously resided in the family haveli. It is now the property of Khan's cousin, Inamullah Niazi.[40][41]

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.[45][46] Inamullah's brother and occasional columnist Hafizullah Niazi is also Imran's brother-in-law, through cousin marriage to Imran's sister.[47][48] They have other brothers, including Irfanullah Niazi,[49] Abdul Hafeez Niazi (a politician and former member of the Punjab provincial assembly),[50] and their youngest brother, the late Najeebullah Khan Niazi, politician and former member of the Punjab provincial assembly.[48][51][52]

According to Dawn, many members of Khan's paternal tribe, and particularly his cousins, have been traditional supporters of the PML-N, even after Khan founded his own party. The newspaper noted that Khan's ancestral home functioned "partially as a local office for the PML-N" and that instead of Khan, the family home featured posters of the Sharifs and pictures of other family members. Inamullah was reportedly unhappy when he was snubbed and not given an election ticket from the PTI's platform, causing Inamullah and his brothers to part ways with Khan and heavily criticise him on the media. Commenting on the bitter family politics, Khan once said: "What should I say? It is a family matter. They are my brothers, Hafizullah and Saeedullah, and their contributions to PTI are great. Inamullah was new to the party... but I did [what I thought was fair]."[41]

Another cousin, Saeedullah Khan Niazi was the president of the PTI in Punjab.[39] He also has a cousin, Ahmed Khan Niazi, who served as his head of security.[41]

Imran's maternal grandfather Ahmad Hasan Khan was born in 1883, and his father (Imran's maternal great-grandfather) had also been a civil servant. He entered the Government College Lahore in 1900, and was reputed in sport, captaining the cricket and football teams at the college.[55] After completing his studies, Ahmed entered the government service. At the height of his career in civil service, he served as the census commissioner of Punjab.[62] He was posted in various areas, including a posting as a District Commissioner in Mianwali (the hometown of Imran Khan's paternal family).[55]

Writing on his maternal grandmother, Khan said that his mother would "make us children go to see our maternal grandmother with our cousins every day for half an hour. These evenings with her were most enjoyable. She would know everything that was going on in our lives. In fact she would get involved in all our problems and we would tell her things that even our parents would not know."[19] According to Khan, his grandmother died at the age of a hundred and "all her mental faculties were fully intact."[19] He also writes that his grandmother died shortly after his own mother died in 1985, and that she might have lived longer but could not get over the loss; "my mother being her youngest child... It almost seemed as if she decided it was time for her to go. She refused to get out of bed and three months after my mother's death she passed away."[19]

Ahmed Hasan Khan had four daughters: the eldest, Iqbal Bano, followed by Mubarak and Shaukat (Imran's mother). Another sister is said to have died early.[55] Ahmed Raza Khan (Imran's maternal uncle) was the only son. Lieutenant General Ahmed Raza was known affectionately by his friends as "Aghajan", and entered the military service. He also played fifteen first-class cricket matches in India and Pakistan, playing for Northern India followed by Punjab.[55] He later served as a national selector at the Pakistan Cricket Board.[55]

Imran's eldest maternal aunt, Iqbal Bano, was married to General Wajid Ali Khan Burki, a high-ranking military official and physician in the Pakistan Army.[1] Imran's second aunt, Mubarak, was married to Jahangir Khan. Jahangir was a cricketer during the British Raj era who played for India and later served as a cricket administrator in Pakistan post-independence.[63]

Nausherwan Burki is a US-based physician and pulmonologist who played an instrumental role in setting up Imran's Shaukat Khanum Cancer Hospital and serves in its board of governors;[19] he was also among the original founders of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf in 1996.[64] Wajid and Iqbal Bano's second son, Javed Burki briefly played cricket for Pakistan during the 1960s and also captained the national side. After retiring from cricket, Javed served as secretary to the Ministry of Water and Power of the Government of Pakistan.[65] Their third son Jamshed Burki, was a retired army major and civil servant who served as a political agent in the Khyber Agency of the tribal areas, among many other important posts, and went on to become the Interior Secretary of Pakistan.

Jahangir Khan and Mubarak's eldest son Asad Jahangir Khan won an Oxford Blue in cricket and was a first-class cricketer in Pakistan.[55] Their second son, Majid Khan became a cricket legend who captained the national side of Pakistan during the 1970s.[2][66] Majid's son Bazid Khan is also a cricketer who has played at the national level.[67] Another distant cousin, Humayun Zaman, played first-class cricket between 1956 and 1971.

Jemima was the eldest child of the Anglo-French billionaire and business tycoon James Goldsmith, and his partner Lady Annabel Goldsmith. Her parents married in 1978, having been previously married to other partners.[6] Her father belonged to the Goldsmith family, a prominent financial dynasty of German Jewish descent. James Goldsmith was a son of the Conservative MP Frank Goldsmith, and grandson of the tycoon Adolphe Goldschmidt. His grand-uncle was the German banker Maximilian von Goldschmidt-Rothschild. His brother (Jemima's paternal uncle) was the environmentalist Edward Goldsmith. Edward's daughter (Jemima's paternal cousin) is the French actress Clio Goldsmith.

Jemima's mother belongs to an aristocratic Anglo-Irish family. Her maternal great-grandfather and great-grandmother were the 7th Marquess of Londonderry and Edith Vane-Tempest-Stewart (daughter of Henry Chaplin) respectively, maternal grandfather was the 8th Marquess of Londonderry, while her maternal uncle was the late 9th Marquess of Londonderry.[81]

Jemima has two younger brothers, Zac Goldsmith and Ben Goldsmith, and five paternal and three maternal half-siblings, including Robin Birley and India Jane Birley.[82]

Reham's parents, Dr. Nayyar Ramzan and his wife, moved to Libya in the late 1960s, where Reham was born in Ajdabiya in 1973.[10] Reham has two sisters and a brother.[10] She is also the niece of Abdul Hakeem Khan, a former governor of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province as well as former Chief Justice of the Peshawar High Court.[83] Reham had three children from her previous cousin marriage to British Pakistani psychiatrist Ijaz Rehman, to whom Imran Khan was a step-father; a son, Sahir Rehman (b. 1993) and two daughters, Ridha Rehman (b. 1997) and Inaya Rehman (b. 2003).[84]

Bushra was born to a conservative, politically influential family of central Punjab. She belongs to the Punjabi clan of Wattoo, and originates from the town of Pakpattan.[4] Her elder sister, Maryam Riaz Wattoo, is an influential member of PTI, having served as President of the UAE women's wing, and was responsible for Bushra's introduction to Khan.[85][86] Her brother, Ahmed Wattoo, is a landowner and real estate developer in Lahore.[86]