Family of Imran Khan

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Khan's family

Imran Khan

Ethnicity

Punjabi Pathan

Current region

Islamabad, Pakistan

Place of origin

Mianwali, Punjab

Connected families

Burki, Goldsmith

The family of Imran Khan (Urdu: ) , a Pakistani politician, former captain of Pakistan cricket
team and public figure, includes immediate family members and distant relatives from both the
paternal and maternal sides. Khan was born on 5 October 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 ethnically 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.
[1]

[2][3]

[1]

[2]

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 Isa Khan (born 1996) and Qasim Khan (born 1999). The marriage ended amicably in
divorce in 2004. In early 2015, Khan announced his marriage to the British Pakistani
journalist Reham Khan. The marriage lasted nine months and ended in divorce on 30 October 2015.
Contents
[hide]

[4]

1Immediate family

1.1Parents

1.2Siblings

1.3Spouses

1.3.1Jemima Goldsmith

1.3.2Reham Khan
1.4Children

2Paternal relations

2.1Uncles

2.2Cousins

3Maternal relations

3.1Uncles and aunts

3.2Cousins

4Extended relatives

5Ex In-laws

5.1Goldsmith family

5.2Reham Khan's family

6References

Immediate family[edit]
Parents[edit]
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 moderate and practicing Muslims.
[1]

[5]

[6]

Khan's father, Ikramullah Khan Niazi, was born in Mianwali and 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 worked in
the Pakistan Public Works Department. He was also a philanthropist, founding a charity called the
Pakistan Educational Society which "funded the university education of underprivileged but talented
children." Ikramullah Niazi served as a board member of the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer
Hospital & Research Centreduring his later years.
[1]

[7]

[8]

[6]

[9]

Khan's mother, Shaukat Khanum, was a housewife. He credits his mother as having played a deeply
influential role in his upbringing. In 1985, she died due to 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
[10]

by Khan in Lahore, and named in memory of his mother. A second Shaukat Khanum cancer
hospital is under construction in Peshawar, while plans are underway for a third hospital to be
located in Karachi.
[11][12]

[8]

Siblings[edit]
Khan has four sisters, namely Rubina Khanum, Aleema Khanum, Uzma Khanum and Rani Khanum.
[13]

Khan's elder sister, Rubina Khanum, is an alumnus of the Lahore School of Economics and held a
senior post with the United Nations.
[9][13]

Aleema Khanum is an entrepreneur and philanthropist who is the founder of a Lahorebased textile buying house, CotCom Sourcing (Pvt.) Ltd. She graduated with anMBA 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
instrumental 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.
[14]

[15][16]

[15]

[17][18]

[15]

[19]

[20]

[15]

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.
[13]

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."
[9]

Spouses[edit]

Jemima Khan in 2011.

Jemima Goldsmith

[edit]

Main article: Jemima Goldsmith

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. The wedding was named by the media as "The
wedding of the century".
[21]

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, 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.
[2]

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). 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.
[22]

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." 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.
[23]

[24]

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.
[25]

Reham Khan

[edit]

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 nikahceremony at Khan's
residence in Bani Gala. The marriage ended in divorce nine months later, in October 2015.
[26]

[4]

Reham is an ethnic Pashtun, belonging to the Lughmani, a sub-clan of the Swati tribe. She hails
from Mansehra in the Hazara region of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and speaks the local dialect Hindko,
in addition to Pashto and Urdu.
[27]

[27]

[28]

Children[edit]
Khan has two kids; sons from his marriage with Jemima, Sulaiman Isa Khan (b. 18 November 1996)
and Kasim Khan (b. 10 April 1999). 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.
[22][29]

[24][25][30]

Sita White, one of Khan's ex-girlfriends filed a lawsuit in a Los Angeles court claiming Khan's
paternity over her daughter Tyrian-Jade. In 1997 the U-S court ruled that cricket star Imran Khan is
the father of the five year old Tyrian-Jade.
[31]

Paternal relations[edit]
See also: Niazi
Khan's father belonged to the Niazi Pashtun tribe, who were long settled in Mianwali in
northwestern Punjab. The Niazis had come to the subcontinent with invading Pashtun tribes during
the fifteenth century. Imran identifies Haibat Khan Niazi as a paternal ancestor, a sixteenth century
military general of Sher Shah Suri and later governor of Punjab. His paternal family hail from the
Shermankhel sub-clan of the Niazis. Most Niazis are Saraiki-speaking and based in Mianwali and
[2][32]

[6]

[33]

[34]

surrounding areas, where family and tribal networks are strong and, according to Khan, where "even
third cousins know each other".
[6]

Uncles[edit]
Imran Khan's paternal grandfather, Azeem Khan Niazi, was a physician and had four sons:
Ikramullah Khan Niazi (Imran's father), Amanullah Khan Niazi, Zafarullah Khan Niazi and Faizullah
Khan Niazi. Imran's paternal uncle Amanullah Khan Niazi was a lawyer and politician who was a
senior member of the Muslim League. Zafarullah Khan Niazi was a businessman. 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). It is spread over an area of
ten kanals and the family's ancestral graveyard, where Imran's father is buried, lies nearby. Imran's
father Ikramullah and uncles Zafarullah and Amanullah previously resided in the haveli. It is now the
property of Khan's cousin, Inamullah Niazi.
[35]

[36][37]

[35]

[38]

[38]

Cousins[edit]
Zafarullah Khan Niazi had several sons, including Khan's paternal cousin Inamullah Niazi who is a
politician and former parliamentarian who was originally a member of thePakistan Muslim League
(N), before becoming senior vice-president of Khan's Tehreek-e-Insaf in Punjab. He later rejoined the
PML (N). Inamullah's brother and occasional columnist Hafizullah Niazi is also Imran's brother-inlaw, through cousin marriage to Imran's sister. They have other brothers, including Irfanullah Niazi,
Abdul Hafeez Niazi(a politician and former member of the Punjab provincial assembly), and their
youngest brother, the late Najibullah Khan Niazi, also a PML (N) politician and former member of the
Punjab provincial assembly.
Another cousin, Saeedullah Khan Niazi was the president of the PTI
in Punjab.
[39][40]

[41][42]

[43]

[44]

[42][45][46]

[34]

Maternal relations[edit]
See also: Burki
Khan's maternal family belongs to the Burki Pashtun tribe (also known as the Ormurs), who
originated in Kaniguram in South Waziristan, located presently in the tribal areas of northwest
Pakistan. Kaniguram was a historical seat of learning and culture in the region, and has been
inhabited primarily by the Burkis since at least the reign of Mehmood Ghaznavi in the 10th century.
The Burkis spoke their own dialect known as Ormuri. According to a tribal legend, they may have
served as bodyguards for Mehmood Ghaznavi who conquered much of Afghanistan, Pakistan and
parts of northern India in the eleventh century, and were awarded lands. They made their living as
traders, taking horses and silk to India. Some members of the Burki tribe emigrated from
Kaniguram around 1600 AD and formed a settlement in the city of Jalandhar (southeast of Amritsar
and 40 miles from Lahore; now in Punjab, India), where Khan's mother was born. Maternally, Khan
is a descendant of the Sufi warrior-poet and inventor of the Pashto alphabet,Pir Roshan (also known
as Bayazid Khan), a Burki born in Jalandhar who hailed from Kaniguram. According to a Burki
historian, K. Hussain Zia, the Burki emigration from Kaniguram was prompted by a severe drought;
"The elders decided that some people would have to leave in order for the others to survive. It was
thus that 40 families bade farewell to Kaniguram. The entire population walked with them for some
miles and watched from the top of a hill till they were out of sight." These forty caravans would
eventually arrive in Jalandhar, an area which the Burkis were already acquainted with previously, on
account of their trading routes to India via the Grand Trunk Road. In Jalandhar, the Burkis
established fortified villages referred to as "bastis". To preserve their ethnic identity and keep
their Pashtun culture intact in India, they did not marry outside their tribe. Khan's maternal family
lived in twelve fortresses in an area in Jalandhar founded by the Burkis known as the Basti
Pathan (lit. Pathan Colony). Khan's maternal grandfather, Ahmed Hasan Khan, was a civil
servant and known to have hosted Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, at Basti Pathan.
Until the 18th century, the Jalandhar Burkis retained ties and trading links with their kinsmen back
[6]

[47]

[47]

[48]

[48]

[6]

[49]

[48]

[48]

[48]

[48]

[6]

in Kaniguram. However, these links were cut off following local instability during Sikh resistance
against the Mughal Empire. As a result of this, the Jalandhar Burkis lost much of their language and
cultural traits, adopting the Punjabi language.
[48]

Following the partition of India and the independence of Pakistan in 1947, the entire Burki clan
migrated to Lahore in Pakistan, escaping the carnage and violence that ensued during the partition.
In Lahore, the Burkis settled in an affluent area which came to be known as Zaman Park, and it
was here among his maternal family where Imran Khan spent much of his youth growing up. The
area is named after Imran's maternal grandfather's brother (i.e. grand-uncle), Khan
Bahadur Mohammed Zaman Khan, who settled in Lahore before the partition and was serving as
postmaster general for the undivided Punjab Province. When the Burkis from Jalandhar arrived to
Lahore, they took shelter in Zaman's house and eventually took up surrounding houses vacated by
Hindus who left for India. Thus, all of Imran's maternal family established themselves in Zaman Park.
Imran's parents built their house in the same area, which he now owns. Imran grew up playing
cricket with his cousins in the neighbourhood. The name Zaman Park came from the presence of
a park, around which the houses were located.
[6]

[8][50]

[48]

[48]

[48]

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. 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. He was posted in various areas,
including a posting as a District Commissioner in Mianwali (the hometown of Imran Khan's paternal
family).
[48]

[51]

[48]

Imran Khan's maternal family is known for its sporting tradition; the Burki clan has produced a long
line of cricketers and played an influential role in Pakistan's cricket history. Eight of his cousins
played first-class cricket. The most prominent of them are Javed Burki and Majid Khan, who went
on to represent the national team and served as captains. In total, up to forty members of the Burki
tribe have at some point played first-class cricket in British India or Pakistan. Two of Imran's
mother's cousins also captained thePakistan national field hockey team.
[7]

[52]

[48]

[53]

Uncles and aunts[edit]

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. Ahmed Raza Khan(Imran's maternal
uncle) was the only son. Ahmed Raza was known affectionately by his friends as "Aghajan", and like
his father and grandfather, entered the civil service. He also played fifteen first-class cricket matches
in India and Pakistan, playing for Northern India followed by Punjab. He later served as a national
selector at the Pakistan Cricket Board.
[48]

[48]

[48]

Imran's eldest maternal aunt, Iqbal Bano, was married to General Wajid Ali Khan Burki, a highranking military official and physician in the Pakistan Army. 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.
[1]

[54]

Cousins[edit]
Wajid Burki and Iqbal Bano's son Nausherwan Burki was 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; he was also among the original founders of the
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf in 1996. 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. Their
third son Jamshed Burki, was a retired army major and civil servant who served as a political
agent in the Khyber Agency of thetribal areas, among many other important posts, and went on to
become the Interior Secretary of Pakistan.
[6]

[55]

[56]

Jahangir Khan and Mubarak's eldest son Asad Jahangir Khan won an Oxford Blue in cricket and
was a first-class cricketer in Pakistan. Their second son, Majid Khan became a cricket legend who
captained the national side of Pakistan during the 1970s. Majid's son Bazid Khan is also a cricketer
who has played at the national level.
[48]

[2][57]

[58]

Extended relatives[edit]
Imran's nephew Hassan Niazi headed the Insaf Students Federation, the student wing of the PTI.
He also has many other nephews. PTIs Additional General Secretary Saifullah Niazi belongs to
the Niazi clan and is a distant relative. Pakistani cricket captain Misbah-ul-Haq also belongs to the
Niazi tribe in Mianwali and shares blood relations with Imran Khan paternally. One of his father's
cousins, Sajjad Sarwar Niazi, was a poet and music composer who served as the director of the
Peshawar Radio Station, while his daughter Nahid Niazi earned fame as a singer.
[59]

[60]

[59]

[61]

[62]

Imran's uncle Jahangir's brother-in-law Baqa Jilani also played cricket for India. Jilani's nephew,
Sherandaz Khan, was a first-class cricketer, and another distant cousin of Imran from the Burki tribe.
He was also "the first bowler to dismiss Imran in first-class cricket". The Pakistani economist Shahid
Javed Burki is a nephew of Wajid Ali Khan Burki and an extended relative of Imran.
[48]

[63]

Imran Khan is said to be a distant cousin of the British-Pakistani heart surgeon Hasnat Khan, who
had a relationship with Lady Diana. He is also a cousin of one of Pakistan's leading Englishlanguage columnists, Khaled Ahmed, who belongs to the Burki tribe. Lawyer and PTI
member Hamid Khan is also a relative.
[64]

[65]

[59]

Imran's great-uncle Khan Salamuddin and many members of Salamuddin's extended family also
made a name in cricket.
[66]

Many family relatives of Imran, from both the paternal and maternal sides, have served in
the Pakistan Armed Forces. Major-General Bilal Omar Khan, who died in the 2009 Rawalpindi
mosque attack was from Khan's maternal family. Another extended relative, General Zahid Ali
Akbar Khan, was an engineering officer in the Pakistan Army, director of the nuclear Project-706,
and later chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board.
[67]

[68]

[53]

Ex In-laws[edit]
Goldsmith family[edit]
Main article: Goldschmidt family
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. 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.
[22]

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-TempestStewart (daughter of Henry Chaplin) respectively, maternal grandfather was the 8th Marquess of
Londonderry, while her maternal uncle was the late 9th Marquess of Londonderry.
[69]

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.
[70]

Reham Khan's family[edit]

Reham's parents, Dr. Nayyar Ramzan and his wife, moved to Libya in the late 1960s, where Reham
was born in Ajdabiya in 1973. Reham has two sisters and a brother. 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. 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).
[27]

[27]

[71]

[72]

References[edit]/
1.

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