The mystic, the cricketer and the spy:
Pakistan’s game of thrones
Imran Khan The mystic, the cricketer and the spy: Pakistan’s game of thrones
By Owen Bennett-Jones and Bushra Taskeen
In the mid 2010s Imran Khan was at a low ebb. He had been a household name in Pakistan ever since he led the country’s cricket team to victory in the 1992 World Cup. But as he entered his 60s, the fame, glamour and parties which followed left him feeling unfulfilled. Khan wanted to make his mark in politics.
during Imran Khan’s government, there existed a nexus between magic and the state. Meat, chilies, and severed animal heads were allegedly used as tools to run the government. Bushra Bibi would reportedly pass secret information to Imran through dreams and “divine revelations.”
Bushra Bibi’s former husband, Khawar Maneka, claimed that she showed Imran a dream in which he became Prime Minister. Former Army Chief General Bajwa said that Bushra Bibi practiced magic and that Imran listened to her a lot. According to the magazine, General Faiz stopped a journalist from criticizing Bushra and Imran’s marriage. When evidence of corruption involving Bushra Bibi surfaced, Imran removed the then-ISI chief Lieutenant General Syed Asim Munir from his position. Jahangir Tareen and Aun Chaudhry also fell victim to Bushra Bibi’s displeasure.
In its article “The Mystic, the Cricketer and the Spy: Pakistan’s Game of Thrones,” published in The Economist (a magazine in circulation since 1843), Pakistan’s politics is described as a scenario involving a former cricketer, a spiritual figure, and state power—something the magazine says could easily be a Netflix series. The central characters of this political drama are Imran Khan and his third wife, Bushra Bibi, whom the magazine likened to Lady Macbeth from Shakespeare’s play Macbeth—a woman who drives her husband to become king through ruthless schemes, leading ultimately to madness and suicide.
Imran Khan’s marriage to his spiritual guide shook the country, and now the same relationship could determine his political future—whether he returns to power or stays behind bars. The Economist presented a detailed and at times shocking picture based on interviews with former domestic staff, drivers, a butcher, and senior party figures.
According to the report, when news spread that Khan had found a new spiritual guide (pir) in Pakpattan, the whole country became fascinated. Khan had been rumored for years to have affairs with many beautiful women, so gossip naturally assumed this was another romance. He appeared on television insisting that his relationship with Bushra Bibi was purely spiritual. His friends were worried.
As soon as Bushra Bibi moved into Imran Khan’s house, chaos erupted. Khan’s driver, Muhammad Safeer, said: “I told Khan he made a ‘super blunder’ this time.” Khan laughed it off. Safeer left the house shortly afterwards. Members of Khawar Maneka’s family also issued warnings about her. One relative even went to Jahangir Tareen and said Bushra was involved in black magic. “I told Mr. Tareen that she’s performing rituals to gain spiritual powers so she can cast spells on people,” he told the magazine.
In Pakistan, what some call “black magic” is not unusual. PTI officials insist these stories are baseless accusations spread by disgruntled former employees. It is also true that most details about Bushra Bibi’s unusual practices come from staff who lost their jobs after she arrived. Yet the picture presented is very detailed.
Driver Safeer said that soon after she moved in, he was ordered to buy 1.25 kilos of beef. Bushra Bibi would circle it three times around Imran Khan’s head while reciting incantations, and then the meat would be thrown onto the roof for birds to eat. Red chilies were rotated around his head and then burned to remove the “evil spirits” left by his previous wife, Reham Khan.
The driver said he was ordered daily to bring severed black goat heads—except Tuesdays and Wednesdays, when he had to buy dead black hens. He delivered them to the maids around 10 or 11 a.m. In the afternoon, the remains were returned to him with instructions to dump them in a graveyard.
Azim Rana, a butcher near Khan’s house, also recalled receiving strange orders: meat, black animal heads, and sometimes live black goats. He personally delivered them and slaughtered the goats with a special knife provided by Bushra Bibi.
A few months after Tareen raised concerns about black magic, senior PTI leaders were invited to Khan’s wedding feast. Tareen said 18 men and two women were present at the table, but Bushra was nowhere to be seen. Near the end, someone asked when they would meet Khan’s new wife. Khan went out and returned with Bushra, covered from head to toe in white. She greeted each guest one by one. When she reached Tareen, she said, “I’m wearing white so you don’t think I’m a black witch.”
On the way back from the event, Tareen told a colleague, “This is the end for me.” He felt his political future in PTI was over and resigned.
He wasn’t the only one sidelined after upsetting Bushra Bibi. Khan’s political aide Aun Chaudhry, who had worked with him for years and expected to attend the PM oath-taking ceremony, received a text from Khan—which he showed the magazine. The message said:
“Bushra Begum had a dream last night. She isn’t telling me what it was, but she says if you attend the ceremony, she won’t come. I’m sorry because you’ve loyally worked with me for six years.”
The next day he was dismissed.
Bushra Bibi also influenced political and government appointments. Believing her claim that she could “read faces,” Khan would request candidate photos to send to her for approval. She intervened in small matters too. A relative of Khan recalled an occasion where she said the travel time was “unfavorable,” so a plane waited four hours until she declared the time safe.
Faisal Vawda said Bushra seemed involved in every discussion. He described a meeting with Khan and then-Army Chief General Bajwa where Bushra spoke more than both men.
PTI strongly denies all these claims.
According to The Economist, there is another theory: Was Bushra Bibi’s influence part of an intelligence agency strategy? The first indication came when the agency began taking unusual interest in her right after her secret marriage to Khan. Journalist Talat Hussain said he questioned Khan’s claim that he wasn’t married yet. Soon he received a call from General Faiz Hameed:
“It’s not good for you to talk about Bushra and Imran’s marriage.”
Surprised, the journalist asked, “Did the intelligence agency arrange their marriage?”
Faiz replied: “No, we didn’t. But we’ve been watching this for a long time and there’s no harm in it. So don’t talk about it.”
The agency may not have arranged the marriage, but there were reasons for them to benefit from it. According to the story, General Faiz used Bushra Bibi. The agency would send an officer to Bushra’s spiritual guide (pir) with information. The pir would relay it to Bushra, who would then tell Khan she received it through revelations.
For example, the officer would tell the pir in advance which politician was going to be arrested. Then Bushra would inform Khan she had seen it in a divine vision. When the prediction came true, Khan was astonished and believed he had a special connection with God.
A senior intelligence officer (anonymous) said close associates of Khan firmly believed this happened. Faiz would gather intelligence, pass it to Bushra, and she would present it to Khan as “spiritual messages.”
Faisal Vawda said it’s unclear whether Bushra knew she was being used. She may not have known the truth. PTI spokesperson Hassan mockingly said the story reminded him of an Agatha Christie spy novel.
But the generals soon grew frustrated, partly due to Bushra Bibi’s constant presence. General Bajwa found her troublesome and obstructive. A former minister said Bajwa always angrily complained that she practiced magic. He felt Khan listened to her more than to him.
In 2019, ISI Chief Lt Gen Asim Munir brought Imran Khan evidence that Bushra was helping her friends in corruption. Khan removed him immediately.
Bushra Bibi, known in childhood as Bushra Riaz Wattoo, was not always so devout. Her grandfather was a landowner. Her father sold land and opened a Chinese restaurant. At one point, Bushra and her sister Maryam were sent to live with relatives in Lahore. Maryam says they studied at Queen Mary College, but the college says it has no record of them.
Bushra’s family was one level below the elite. People who knew her in youth say she attended liberal gatherings, though Maryam denies this. When visiting village relatives, she refused to wear a dupatta. A former village neighbor didn’t fully confirm this but said she had “very modern ideas.”
At 18, Bushra married Maneka. According to a Lahore observer, marrying into the wealthy Maneka family was a big achievement for her. The marriage brought comfort and status but also restrictions. As the wife of a rich family, she was expected to raise children, meet relatives, and supervise household staff. She had five children. Maryam says Bushra’s marriage was not happy. It appears she found refuge in Sufi Islam.
After the 1992 World Cup, Imran became a national hero. He entered politics in 1996 and spent many years in isolation. His movement against Nawaz Sharif in 2014 faltered. In 2016, the Panama Papers revived his momentum, but the march on Islamabad failed. Political circles wondered whether Imran’s rise was over.
After his failed marriage with Reham Khan, Imran was very restless. Around that time, Marium introduced him to Bushra. Initially, Bushra refused to speak to any man outside her family. But eventually she agreed to advise him on the phone—and that’s when everything began. Long nightly phone calls turned into visits.
Bushra’s husband Khawar Maneka initially felt honored that such a famous figure visited their home. But as the closeness grew, he became worried. He said she wanted to speak to Imran alone. “I would say: Why can’t we all sit together?” Whenever he entered the room, silence fell.
According to Maneka, Bushra told Imran she had seen the future: if they married, he would become Prime Minister. Bushra denies this.
At the end of 2017, she divorced Maneka and secretly married Imran on 1 January 2018. Imran claims he had not even seen his bride’s face before the wedding. The Economist wrote: “For the former playboy, looks no longer mattered.”
His belief in spiritual power must have peaked when, just months after the wedding, PTI won the general election and he became Prime Minister—thanks in part to military support. But after taking office, he failed to fulfill promises of an Islamic welfare state and 10 million jobs. His relations with political and military elites soured. His wife angered key allies. Ministers and staff complained that the “unusual First Lady” was given too much authority. One cabinet member said her interference was “total.”