Family Of Imran Khan
The family of Imran Khan (Urdu: خاندان عمران خان), a Pakistani candidate, former captain of Pakistan cricket team and
public figure, includes immediate family members and detached relations from
both the fatherly and motherly sides. Khan was born on 25 November 1952
in Lahore to father Ikramullah Khan Niazi,
a civil engineer,
and mother Shaukat Khanum. He grew up as the only son in the family, with
four sisters. The family are culturally of Pashtun origin. Paternally, Khan belongs
to the Niazi Pashtun tribe which has long been settled in Mianwali in northwestern Punjab] Khan's mother hailed from the Burki Pashtun
tribe settled in Jalandhar (Punjab),
which had emigrated a few centuries ago from South Waziristan in the tribal
areas of northwest Pakistan. Khan's maternal family has produced several great
cricketers, the most prominent of whom are Javed Burki and Majid Khan.
From 1995 to 2004, Imran Khan was married to Jemima Khan, a British writer and activist,
and member of the influential Goldsmith family of
England. They have two sons from the marriage, Sulaiman Khan (born 1996) and
Qasim Khan (born 1999). The marriage ended amicably in divorce in 2004. In late
2014, Khan announced his marriage to the British Pakistani journalist Reham Khan.
Parents
Khan was born in Lahore, the only son of Ikramullah Khan Niazi, a civil
engineer, and his wife Shaukat Khanum A
quiet and shy boy in his youth, Khan grew up with his four sisters in
relatively affluent (upper middle-class) circumstances and received a privileged education. Khan's parents were enough
and practicing Muslims.
Khan's father, Ikramullah Khan Niazi, was a civil engineer who graduated from
the Imperial College
London in 1946. 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 was also a humanitarian, founding a charity called the
Pakistan Educational Society which "funded the university education of
underprivileged but talented children." He served as a board member of the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital & Research
Centre during his later years.
Khan's mother, Shaukat Khanum, was a housewife. She died in 1985
of cancer. The 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.
Siblings
Khan has four sisters, namely Rubina Khanum, Aleema Khanum, Uzma
Khanum and Rani Khanum.
Khan's elder sister, Rubina Khanum, is an alumnus of the Lahore 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, and played an active
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 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."
Marriage
Jemima Khan
On 16 May 1995, Khan married Jemima Khan, 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 greeting at the Goldsmiths' house in Surrey which was attended by London's elite. 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 publicized
that Jemima had changed 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 shaped
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 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 learning for a masters 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 Khan had
divorced ending the nine-year marriage because it was "difficult for
Jemima to adapt to life in Pakistan".
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 separation 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. Giving to Jemima,
Imran and she have remained on very good terms even after the divorce.
Reham Khan
In January 2015, Imran Khan married British Pakistani reporter 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. Imran is a step-father to Reham's three children from her
previous marriage with psychoanalyst Ijaz Rehman, which include a son, Sahir
Rehman (b. 1993) and two daughters, Ridha Rehman (b. 1997) and Inaya Rehman (b.
2003).
Reham's parents, Dr. Nayyar Ramzan and his wife, moved to Libya in
the late 1960s, where Reham was born in Ajdabiya in 1973. She is an national Pashtun, belonging to the Lughmani, a sub-clan of the Swati tribe, and bursts from Mansehra in the Hazara region of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Reham has two sisters and a brother.