LAHORE - Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan tied the knot with Bushra Maneka at a simple ceremony in Lahore on Sunday, the party’s spokesperson confirmed.

PTI spokesperson Fawad Chaudhary confirmed the development, saying that the ceremony was held at Maneka’s residence.

A PTI leader told the news channels that only close relatives attended the ceremony and Mufti Saeed performed the Nikah in presence of witnesses. The ceremony was kept a low profile as per the desire of Imran Khan, he added. He expressed the hope that Imran’s marriage would prove a blessing not only for Khan but for the entire nation.

Khan’s close associates Awn Chaudhry and Zulfi Bukhari appeared as witnesses, Fawad Chaudhary said.

A local newspaper in an article published in January had claimed that Khan had married for the third time in a secret ceremony on January 1, saying that Mufti Saeed had performed the Nikah. PTI, which had originally refuted the claim, ‘clarified’ a few days after the report was published that Khan had proposed marriage to Bushra Maneka, believed to be a respected Pir (faith healer) in Pakpattan.

Soon after, the party leader also broke his silence through a series of tweets, saying, “My crime is wanting to get married” and that he was looking for “personal happiness”.

Bushra Maneka is in her 40s, and belongs to the Wattoo clan, of which the Manekas are a sub-clan. Earlier, she was married to Khawar Farid Maneka, a senior customs official in Islamabad but parted ways in recent times.

The PTI chief has been married twice before. His first marriage was with Jemima Goldsmith, daughter of a British billionaire in 1995. The couple divorced in 2004.

Khan’s second marriage to Reham Khan dissolved 10 months after a public ceremony had taken place in January 2015.

Photographs of Khan’s Nikah with Bushra Wattoo have been released. The photographs show Imran and a veiled Bushra along with several others, including PTI leaders Awn Chaudhry and Zulfi Bukhari.