ISLAMABAD: Bushra Bibi, the wife of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan, has been sentenced to seven years in prison alongside her husband in the £190 million case.
Born Bushra Riaz Watto, she changed her name to Khan after her marriage in 2018. She had been growing into a leadership role in her husband’s political party since he was jailed in August 2023.
Khan and her followers commonly refer to her as Bushra Bibi or Bushra Begum, titles that denote respect in the Urdu language.
The verdict in the case, the largest in terms of financial impropriety faced by Imran Khan, was delivered by an anti-graft court in a prison in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, where the one-time cricket hero has been jailed since August 2023.
The former prime minister was sentenced to 14 years in prison, and the PTI has said it would appeal both sentences.
Bushra, who is in her late 40s, drew global headlines when she entered the capital Islamabad last year with thousands of PTI supporters who breached heavy security barricades. Not far from the country’s parliament, she addressed the crowd from the roof of a truck near the historic square of D-Chowk, urging them to stay until Khan was freed.
“You all need to promise that until Khan is amongst us, you won’t leave,” Bushra said in her first ever speech at a public rally.
Underlining her increasingly active role in PTI, she insisted on holding the protest at the sensitive, central location, despite Khan’s instructions to gather on the capital’s outskirts, according to party officials.
The protesters eventually dispersed after a midnight raid by law enforcement agencies following days of deadly clashes. Party officials said Bushra escaped to the nearby PTI stronghold of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province where she largely remained until Friday’s court appearance.
Who is Bushra Bibi?
Bushra married Imran in a secret ceremony. It was his third marriage and her second, and at the start she generally kept a low profile.
The couple was convicted in 2024 of not completing the waiting period mandated by Islam after her previous marriage, although a court overturned the conviction a few months later.
She was released from prison in October after nine months for a case involving the illegal sale of state gifts.
Bushra was previously married for around 30 years. She hails from a family of landowners in Punjab, but little is known about her early life.
Bushra is a devotee of Fariduddin Masud Ganjshakar, or Baba Farid, a revered Muslim mystic and Sufi saint whose shrine is located in her ex-husband’s hometown of Pakpattan in Punjab.
She usually appears in public with her face covered by a veil, dressed in a flowing plain black or white abaya, or robe.
It is not clear when or how Khan met Bushra, but former aide Aun Chaudhry said Khan was very impressed with her spirituality.
What is next for Bushra Bibi?
The sentence throws into question Bushra’s future role in PTI in a region where political leadership is often passed within families.
Women have played a significant role in Pakistan’s turbulent political history, rallying support for detained relatives, such as the country’s first female prime minister Benazir Bhutto.
As a young woman, Bhutto spoke out defiantly in support of her father former president Zulfikar Ali Bhutto who was imprisoned and executed in 1979 under the military regime of General Zia-ul-Haq.
Mazhar Abbas, a journalist and political analyst, said shortly after last year’s protests that Bushra was now acting like a de-facto party leader even without formally holding office.
“Her posture is different and even the government is also targeting her,” said Abbas.
Without naming Bushra, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi told media the destruction during the protests was caused by “one woman”.
