Superstitions and a streak of narcissism led to Imran’s downfall. His wife Bushra Bibi didn’t only weave her magical spell on him, it was cast on the functioning of the state as well and Bibi’s likes, dislikes and foretelling decided not only Khan’s cabinet picks, it made him refuse the offer of agreeing to elections three times, say several Pakistan wathchers.

It was also Bibi who played a part in removing then ISI chief and now Army Chief General Asim Munir from ISI posting.

All these revelations are being made by columnists and colleagues who once supported Khan passionately.

Muhammad Izharul Haq, a senior columnist with Duniya News Urdu, wrote that he started supporting Imran as he came out as a promising new leader who will take the country out of its morass. “Hackneyed and dreary leadership has been ruining Pakistan for years. Imran came as a tsunami of hope. However, this flame extinguished as soon as he assumed power,” he wrote.

By Imran Khan’s public admission, wife Bushra Bibi was his spiritual mentor. There wouldn’t be any issues with this if it had stayed within the realm of his spiritual beliefs. While there were certainly other significant factors at play, irrefutable evidence suggests that Bushra… pic.twitter.com/jDBxj7Zjzl

— Kamran Khan (@AajKamranKhan) August 6, 2023

He added that the most surprising for his serious supporters was that a modern man like him had turned out to be maniacally obsessed with superstitions and irrational spirituality. “Both historical and present rulers have been following superstitions, but no one did it like Imran,” he wrote.

“The real reason Imran wrecked his own throne is his superstitions and credulity. These were not merely tendencies of a fallacious politician, these had rather transformed into the obsession of a maniac. We know that even Mughal kings used to consult clairvoyants and got their kundlis (astrological charts) examined by famous pandits. They would be eager to know about an opportune shagun (good omen) for any special occasion.

General Ayub Khan had imprisoned maulvis to avoid two sermons in a day – one on Eid in the morning and second during Juma prayers after noon. Zia-ul-Haq, Zardari, Jatoi, Nawaz Sharif, and Benazir Bhutto were all followers of superstitions in some way or the other. They all got blessings from the broom of a faith healer. They sometimes avoided visiting the sea. On other occasions, they were forbidden to go to hills, as hills would probably fall on them. Thousands of goats were sacrificed to save them from evil eyes.

But Imran was a step ahead of them. He was so desperate to become PM that he married a woman before she completed her post-divorce iddat period (mandatory four months and 10 days and this case went to court). He did so knowing well the obligations of Islam. But even this was very personal. His unpardonable sin was that he rinsed the functioning of the state in his superstitions. The day he will reveal secrets of selecting Buzdar for Punjab CM, it would be eye-opening. Several other cabinet postings were decided by his “spiritual callings”. He was offered dates for general elections three times, but every time he rejected them on the advice of “someone”. He would even be advised not to meet his children by this “influence”,” wrote Haq.

According to Haq, the “spirituality” was spun around him as part of a plot and he proved to be extremely gullible to be an easy prey. And once he was in the net, there was no escape route. According to Aun Chaudhry, former advisor to Punjab CM Buzdar, a surprise Imran or Bibi choice, when both of them visited Imran’s residence, his wife Bushra Bibi immediately declared “you both are under spell of evil magic”. After an azaan (call to prayer), she rubbed her hand on Imran’s head and face so that he could stay protected from magic.

Khan’s powerful former colleague and now president of a Istekaam-e-Pakistan Party, a PTI splinter group, Aleem Khan, said that former Punjab CM was picked by Imran after Bushra Bibi’s advice so that he would be a hen-picked choice and will be ready follow every command. “Buzdar was so dutiful to Bibi that he even brought a collection of bribes from various government departments to Imran’s residence and kept it with Bibi. Once he is nabbed by investigative agencies, a lot of skeletons will tumble out of his bundle,” he told a TV news channel.

Sadiq Mehmood, a renowned palmist of Lahore, said in a TV interview that Imran, Bushra Bibi and Bushra’s first husband Khawar Maneka had visited him before Imran-Bushra marriage. “I had told Imran that you will become PM with your wife. The same I told Maneka that you will become PM if you will have this wife,” he said, adding that Imran had sought whether he had Rajyog (royal path, or PM chair to be specific). “I had told him he did,” Sadiq said.

“But now I see Imran can only become a kingmaker (given he survives the present crisis),” added Sadiq.

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