First lady Bushra Imran’s first ever TV interview proved to be an exercise in image building for Prime Minister Imran Khan, as she emphasised her husband’s simple lifestyle and increased personal religiosity.
In an interview broadcast by Hum TV, Mrs Imran Khan maintained that Pakistanis were fortunate to have a prime minister like her husband.
She said that she was sure that PM Khan had the country’s best interests at heart. She said when God wants to change the fate of a nation, a leader is sent to them.
On her husband’s lifestyle, which she held was very simple; she said he was not very particular about clothes or food.
She said that the PM was not fond of getting new clothes. “When I first married him, I asked one of our housekeepers to take out his summer clothes and was told that he does not have any,” she said.
She continued that during the entire summer season, Khan wore clothes gifted to him by a friend.
The first lady explained an apparent calmness in the PM’s attitude after his election victory and attributed this to his increased religiosity. The host of the show had posited that otherwise known for his aggressive posturing, Khan’s temperament had moderated after the election victory.
The first lady maintained that PM Khan makes it a point to fulfil his religious obligations, despite a busy daily routine.
Responding to a question, she rubbished the suggestion that she had been divinely inspired to marry Imran Khan. She said, “I cannot understand how or why people choose to circulate such lies.” She said that after her divorce from Khawar Maneka, she had waited for the mandatory time period for women, according to Islamic jurisprudence, before marrying Khan.
“I could have married someone the day I left my former husband’s home, but I waited some six or seven months before I did so,” she said, adding that her former husband had been very particular about fulfilling religious obligations.
On the issues she intended to raise as the first lady, Mrs Imran Khan mentioned her visit to an old people’s home in Lahore and said that she had been deeply moved.
“The pain [I felt] was such that I could not eat or pray for the next few days,” she said. “Some of the people I met had nothing. Others asked me for a small stipend. That moved me. I just wanted to leave that place quickly and do something for them.”
Published in Daily Times, September 28th 2018.
