Greenpeace activists board tanker demanding cut in plastic production
Greenpeace activists halted a petrochemical tanker in South Korea on Saturday, demanding a strong global plastics treaty as UN negotiations in Busan enter their final 24 hours with divisions remaining over critical aspects of the treaty.
The activists climbed aboard the tanker, Buena Alba, stationed near South Korea’s Hanwha TotalEnergies complex, at 9.30am local time.
The ship was set to load propylene, a fossil-fuel-derived chemical used in plastic production.
Equipped with safety gear, the activists scaled the ship’s mast, painted ‘PLASTIC KILLS’ on the side of the vessel, and set up tents to sustain their protest.
The vessel was halted for over nine hours as activists told The Independent they planned to continue sitting in protest until a treaty restricting plastic pollution is signed at the UN talks in Busan, where representatives from almost 200 countries have gathered.
“Our activists are taking action to stop this plastic shipment to urge world leaders to listen to the millions of voices demanding an end to plastic pollution,” Capucine Dayen, communications and engagement manager of Greenpeace, who was accompanying the activists, said on a phone call.
“Our activists want to stay as long as necessary, until the end of the treaty negotiations,” Ms Dayen said on a phone call as activists remained mounted on the tanker.
Sunday is scheduled to be the final day of the fifth and final round of the UN’s plastics treaty negotiations where countries are expected to agree to the world’s first legally binding plastics treaty. However, the talks appear to have reached an impasse amid deep divisions persisting over critical issues such as production caps, financing and even the definition of plastics and harmful chemicals.
The activists say they wanted a treaty that puts a cap on plastic production. Global plastic waste is projected to nearly triple by 2060 if current trends continue, according to an Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) report.
Greenpeace is calling for a 75 per cent reduction in plastic production by 2040 to stay within safe climate limits. Greenpeace estimates that unchecked plastic production could consume up to 31 per cent of the remaining carbon budget needed to limit global warming to 1.5C.
However, they say the presence of the petrochemical industry was undermining the negotiations.
“We’re protesting here because petrochemical industry lobbyists are out in force in Busan, using their power, money, and access to try to ensure the treaty fails,” said Ms Dayen.
“We want them to turn off the plastic production taps. And we want to show that if our climbers can challenge the plastic industry, so can world leaders inside the negotiation room.”
“We are taking direct action here today—stopping this plastic shipment—to urge world leaders to listen to the voices of millions of people around the world,” said Alex Wilson, a Greenpeace UK climb team volunteer. “Scientists and businesses are demanding a cap on plastic production to stop plastic pollution.”
As the activists held their positions on the tanker’s mast, tensions were escalating by evening. Ms Dayen told The Independent that the ship’s crew attempted to disrupt the protest by using loud noises and shining laser lights at the activists. She said the situation was complicating their ability to communicate with the media.
“Unfortunately, the crew on the vessel have been playing this very loud noise and trying to shine laser light in their eyes, which is making it very difficult for them to take any media interviews,” she said.
A spokesman for South Korea’s coast guard told AFP news agency that the police had been “deployed on the ship, and we are making warning announcements to facilitate a safe disembarkation”.
He said a “thorough investigation” would be carried out to determine if there were any “illegal elements” to the protest.
Greenpeace’s protest comes after a report showing heavy lobby presence by the petrochemical industry at the treaty talks. Analysis by the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) revealed that more than 220 petrochemical lobbyists, the highest seen at any plastics treaty negotiations so far, were present in Busan.
Despite slow progress in the negotiations, there is growing international support for including production cuts in the treaty. A cross-regional proposal for a global reduction target has garnered backing from 100 countries. Additionally, a coalition of 350 global businesses, named Champions of Change, has called for cuts aligned with climate commitments.
Graham Forbes, head of delegation to the Global Plastics Treaty negotiations at Greenpeace USA, urged world leaders to seize the moment.
“We are at the eleventh hour of the negotiations. Countries must agree to reduce plastic production to protect human health, avoid climate chaos, and encourage investments in a truly circular economy,” Mr Forbes said.
“A treaty that does not tackle plastic production would be a failure, and this should be a red line for all governments committed to ending the plastic pollution crisis.”
Host South Korea’s petrochemical industry has also faced scrutiny for its role in fueling both plastic pollution and climate crisis. Greenpeace’s analysis showed that the country’s plastic production capacity emits greenhouse gases equivalent to Japan and Taiwan’s combined totals. South Korea also ranks as the largest producer of plastic waste in the OECD and the fourth-largest producer of petrochemicals globally.
“The South Korean government should listen to the wishes of its citizens who want to see an end to plastic pollution,” said Mikyoung Kim, project manager at Greenpeace Seoul Office.
“Corporate interests should not override the public. The INC-5 negotiations in Busan are Korea’s opportunity to make the right choice together with the world.”
The treaty talks are expected to conclude on Sunday, leaving a narrow window for negotiators to agree on decisive measures.
Starbucks opens in South Korea with view of the North Korean border
Starbucks has opened a new coffee shop in South Korea, where customers can sip their lattes and view a quiet North Korean mountain village in the distance.
On Friday (November 28), the American chain opened its newest location in an observatory at Aegibong Peace Ecopark near the city of Gimpo — about 31 miles northwest of Seoul, South Korea, and less than a mile from North Korean territory.
However, customers must pass a military checkpoint before entering the observatory, which overlooks North Korea’s Songaksan mountain, according to The Associated Press.
Officials from the South Korean city of Gimpo explained that opening the Starbucks was part of efforts to develop its border facilities as a tourist destination, saying the coffee shop symbolizes “robust security on the Korean Peninsula through the presence of this iconic capitalist brand.”
The observatory is one of the main attractions at Aegibong park, which was built on a hill that was a fierce battle site during the Korean War. The website describes the park as a “symbolic place representing peace and harmony.”
Visitors at the Starbucks can not only catch a glimpse of North Korea, but also the Jogang River that runs between the observatory and the border town of Kaepung in the North.
“I wish I could share this tasty coffee with the people in North Korea,” Baek Hea-soon, a 48-year-old Gimpo resident, told Reuters at the Starbucks opening.
As of 2024, there are nearly 2,000 Starbucks coffee shops across South Korea, according to SCK Company, which operates Starbucks in the country through a licensing deal.
Gimpo and other South Korean border cities like Paju have been trying to develop their border sites as tourist assets, even as tensions grow between the war-divided Koreas.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has been trying to raise pressure on South Korea and threatening to attack his rival with nuclear weapons if provoked. North Korea has also engaged in psychological and electronic warfare against South Korea, such as flying trash-laden balloons into the South and disrupting GPS signals from border areas near the South’s biggest airport.
Kaephung county is believed to be one of the possible sites from where North Korea has launched the thousands of balloons over several months.
South Korea’s military said Friday that the North flew dozens more balloons overnight and that some trash and leaflets landed around the capital Seoul and nearby Gyeonggi province.
Additional reporting from AP
Uniqlo faces calls for boycott in China after CEO’s Xinjiang comment
Uniqlo is facing calls for a consumer boycott in China after the company’s boss said the Japanese clothing retailer does not source cotton from Xinjiang amid allegations of forced labour in the region.
Fast Retailing’s chief executive Tadashi Yanai, who had been silent for years over the procurement of cotton from the northwestern Chinese region, revealed this week to BBC that Uniqlo was “not using” cotton from Xinjiang.
“By mentioning which cotton we’re using … actually, it gets too political if I say anymore so let’s stop here,” he said without adding further details.
Companies that buy clothing, cotton, tomatoes and other goods from Xinjiang have come under pressure from Western consumers over the alleged genocide of the minority Uyghurs and Hui Muslims under the Xi Jinping administration over the past decade. Beijing has routinely denied allegations of “crimes against humanity”, calling them the “lie of the century”.
Two hashtags on Mr Yanai’s comment went viral on Friday on Chinese social media platform Weibo, where several users slammed the company and vowed to never purchase its products.
“With this kind of attitude from Uniqlo, and their founder being so arrogant, they’re probably betting that mainland consumers will forget about it in a few days and continue to buy. So, can we stand firm this time?” one user wrote.
“It seems that I will have to stop buying Uniqlo in the future,” wrote another user on Weibo.
On X, an account named Shanghai Panda with over 110,000 followers, wrote: “UNIQLO rejected Xinjiang cotton. Chinese must reject UNIQLO.”
China is one of the biggest markets for Uniqlo, where the brand aims to expand its business. Greater China, including Taiwan and Hong Kong, accounts for more than 20 per cent of the company’s revenue.
Mr Yanai told the broadcaster that there were only 900 to 1000 stores for China’s mammoth population. “I think we can increase that to 3,000.”
Several global brands, such as H&M, Nike, Tommy Hilfiger and Adidas have faced backlash in China for removing products using Xinjiang cotton from their shelves expressing concern for the alleged use of forced labour. The brands were pushed by US-led sanctions imposing tougher regulations on the import of goods from Xinjiang in 2022.
H&M saw its stores removed from major e-commerce platforms and its store locations moved from map apps in China as it bore the brunt of consumer anger at companies refusing to source cotton from Xinjiang.
The Xinjiang region produces one of the best cotton in the world and a US federal report published in 2022 estimated that cotton from Xinjiang accounted for roughly 87 per cent of China’s production and 23 per cent of the global supply in 2020 and 2021.
A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said: “We hope that relevant companies can eliminate political pressure and negative interference, and make independent business decisions that align with their own interests.”
China in 2021 accused the West of “fabricating lies like ‘forced labour’ to create ‘forced industrial decoupling’ and ‘forced unemployment’ in Xinjiang to suppress Chinese companies and industries”.
Camera traps used to spy on and harass women in Indian national park – study
Wildlife camera traps and drones in one of India’s best-known forest reserves are being misused to spy on women, researchers say.
Forest rangers in Jim Corbett National Park in the northern state of Uttarakhand intentionally fly drones over local women to intimidate them and prevent them from collecting natural resources to which they have a legal right, a research paper, published in the journal Environment and Planning F, warned.
“The patriarchal gaze of the society has extended into the forest because of these cameras,” Trishant Simlai, a researcher at the University of Cambridge’s Department of Sociology and lead author of a report detailing these findings, told The Independent.
“Nobody could have realised that camera traps put in the Indian forest to monitor mammals actually have a profoundly negative impact on the mental health of local women who use these spaces,” Mr Simlai said.
Officials from Corbett Tiger Reserve, part of the wider national park, called the allegations that forest officers were misusing wildlife cameras “absurd”. Nonetheless, they said an investigation had been set up to look into the study’s claims.
Researchers conducted a 14-month study interviewing 270 locals in the villages around Corbett Tiger Reserve and found that this intentional snooping of women by misusing technology was aimed at controlling and restricting women’s access to the forest.
The women go there to collect firewood or to relieve themselves.
“These cameras, these drones, they’re taking pictures of people as well (besides the wildlife). So what happens to these pictures? India has one of the worst data protection laws. What is the accountability? What is the transparency here? What do they do with these pictures? They are not asking for consent of people,” Mr Simlai says.
The researchers also found that women now venture deeper into the woods to avoid surveillance and put themselves at greater risk of wildlife attacks.
The study, titled “The gendered forest: Digital surveillance technologies for conservation and gender-environment relationships”, also claimed that women, especially from marginalised communities, are being controlled by these surveillance methods, with some men even encouraging their use to prevent women from “straying” or wasting time in the forest.
“These findings have caused quite a stir amongst the conservation community. It’s very common for projects to use these technologies to monitor wildlife, but this highlights that we really need to be sure they’re not causing unintended harm,” Prof Chris Sandbrook, director of the University of Cambridge Masters in Conservation Leadership programme, who was also involved in the report, said in a statement.
“Surveillance technologies that are supposed to be tracking animals can easily be used to watch people instead – invading their privacy and altering the way they behave,” he added.
Uttarakhand has a recorded forest area of 38,000 square kilometres, making up 71.05 per cent of the state’s total area. Forests play a crucial role for women, particularly in rural areas, by supplying vital resources such as firewood and fodder for cattle.
The researchers highlighted an incident from 2017 when a photograph of an autistic woman in Corbett Tiger Reserve – with a total area of 1288.31sq km – went viral after being taken by a wildlife camera trap. Local men circulated the image to shame and control the marginalised community she belonged to.
“A photograph of a woman going to the toilet in the forest – captured on a camera trap supposedly for wildlife monitoring – was circulated on local Facebook and WhatsApp groups as a means of deliberate harassment,” Mr Simlai said.
“I discovered that local women form strong bonds while working together in the forest, and they sing while collecting firewood to deter attacks by elephants and tigers. When they see camera traps they feel inhibited because they don’t know who’s watching or listening to them – and as a result, they behave differently – often being much quieter, which puts them in danger,” he said.
“Accidents happen when tigers get surprised by our presence, we sing loudly before entering the forest and while collecting firewood, to let them know that we are here,” a local woman told researchers.
Munish Kumar, a local social activist with a rights organisation called Samajwadi Lokmanch, told The Independent that camera traps have been used to invade the privacy of women in the forest. “Women call the forest their home. Sometimes they also relieve themselves in the forest as people in the villages relieve themselves in the open. When a camera trap captures their pictures, it is an invasion of their privacy.”
Mr Kumar said there were ethical concerns surrounding the use of surveillance technology in forests. “When women go to a forest to collect resources like firewood where cameras are set up, but they are not informed about their presence, it is an invasion.”
Mr Simlai said the use of drones for surveillance in villages near the Corbett Tiger Reserve also reflects the entrenched caste dynamics and social inequities in the state. “The drone team (of the forest department) would first call the headman of a village and take permission from him before flying a drone if it is a village dominated by the landed elite or the upper caste.”
But “when it comes to a 100 per cent Dalit village, no permission is taken. They drive straight into the village, fly the drone wherever they want, and be very brazen about it”, he alleges. India’s 200 million Dalits, formerly untouchables, are placed on the lowest rung of a caste hierarchy and remain subject to widespread discrimination, despite the fact India abolished untouchability in 1955.
Saket Badola, the field director for Corbett Tiger Reserve, told The Independent: “These are absurd allegations. The intention of using these technologies is never to snoop on women. These cameras are put up in forest areas for wildlife monitoring, conducting wildlife censuses, and mitigating human-wildlife conflict.”
When asked about the allegations of forest rangers intentionally flying drones over local women to intimidate them, as alleged by the Cambridge researchers, Mr Badola said: “Drones are primarily used for rescue operations and to track wildlife movements, especially when animals are approaching villages. The purpose is entirely wildlife management.”
The Independent asked him whether there were any avenues available for villagers to report misuse of surveillance technology by forest officials. Mr Badola responded: “If these claims were true, don’t you think people would have brought them to our attention? There has been no such reporting to the administration.”
He added: “If people felt something was wrong or objectionable, they could have directly approached our staff, officers, the district administration, or even the police. These avenues are always available to them.”
He says that “camera traps have been in use since 2006. Over all these years, no such allegations or complaints have been brought to us by villagers”.
“If there is any substantiated evidence, we will investigate further. We will take action if anything is found.”
Rajiv Bhartari, a former director of the Corbett Tiger Reserve and former principal chief conservator of forests in Uttarakhand, urged officials to look into the researchers’ findings.
He told The Independent: “I don’t think that any camera traps have been put ever with design to capture images of people or restrict their movement. It’s not a part of the design, but misuse of images is always a possibility.
“Any progressive management should welcome research and the findings of the research because this knowledge is meant to improve conservation practice and make it more just.”
Man dubbed ‘one of Australia’s worst paedophiles’ gets life sentence
A former childcare worker in Australia has been sentenced to life in prison for sexually abusing almost 70 children over the period of two decades.
Ashley Paul Griffith, 46, was sentenced on Friday by the Brisbane District Court after he pleaded guilty to 307 sex offences committed over 20 years.
Judge Paul Smith said the scale and the nature of the crimes were “depraved” and “horrendous”, adding that “significant harm” had been caused by Griffith, “and significant harm will continue to be caused”.
“This was very serious, offending in terms of length and scale. The victims were very vulnerable, and there was a significant breach of trust,” Judge Smith added, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
The judge said there was a high risk of Griffith re-offending if he was released into the community. The accused will have a non-parole period of 27 years and won’t be eligible to apply until 2049.
Griffith, dubbed as “one of Australia’s worst paedophiles” appeared emotionless during his second day of sentencing at the district court. Several people reportedly screamed at Griffith in the courtroom as the judge handed his sentence.
The charges against Griffith included 28 counts of rape, 190 of indecent treatment, and 67 of creating child exploitation material. The crimes were committed against about 70 children, many of them under 12, at childcare centres in Australia and Italy between 2003 and 2022.
Griffith was arrested in August 2022 after investigators linked him to disturbing content found on the dark web. He was charged with more than 1,400 crimes, including multiple counts of rape, after additional child abuse material was found on his electronic devices.
The number of charges was significantly reduced earlier this year and additional charges were dropped on Monday, leaving him facing 307 offences.
The court was told last week that Griffith was diagnosed with a “paedophilic disorder” and was assessed as having “a high level of sexual deviance”.
Investigators found thousands of photographs and videos of abuse that were filmed by him and uploaded onto the dark web.
A parent of one of the survivors recalled the “horrific” moment they were told their daughter had been sexually abused. They initially thought that police were contacting them about a separate incident at the daycare centre, but they were instead asked to identify their child from a photo.
“We see people going in and I think this happened to my child in that room,” the survivor’s mother said, referring to the daycare centre. “It’s a room of horrors.”
Her father said it was “hard to believe” how someone could “get away with something like that for so long”.
“As she grows up, we’ll deal with that as it comes but it’s going to be something we deal with through our lives now,” the child’s father said. “It was good that he pleaded guilty and we can move on to the next step now.”
If you are a child and you need help because something has happened to you, you can call the NSPCC free of charge on 0800 1111. You can also call the NSPCC if you are an adult and you are worried about a child, on 0808 800 5000. The National Association for People Abused in Childhood (Napac) offers support for adults on 0808 801 0331.
Crypto mogul eats banana he bought for $6.2 million
The crypto entrepreneur who bought a banana duct-taped to a wall for $6.2 million last week has eaten it.
Justin Sun knew he wasn’t meant to eat the banana when he originally purchased it. Yet, in a room filled with media personnel at a hotel in Hong Kong, the 34-year-old TRON cryptocurrency founder swallowed the banana like it was any other.
Before taking a bite, Sun sang the praises of Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan, arguing conceptual art was similar to cryptocurrency as he described the banana as “iconic.”
“It’s much better than other bananas,” Sun proclaimed. “It’s really quite good.”
Cattelan, 64, debuted the artwork at Art Basel in Miami, Florida, in 2019, titling it “Comedian.”
The banana, which was regarded as “the most expensive piece of fruit in the world,” was sold to Cattelan for 35 cents from a vendor outside the Sotheby’s auction house in New York where Sun bid on it.
Upon hearing how much Sun bought the fruit for, the vendor, Shah Alam, was in disbelief. Sun then promised to buy 100,000 more bananas from Alam, or $25,000 worth of produce, in a series of posts on X/Twitter.
“As the owner of a fruit stand in Manhattan’s Upper East Side, Mr. Shah Alam inadvertently became a crucial contributor to a groundbreaking piece of art. This banana, far from being an ordinary piece of fruit, has taken on profound cultural and artistic significance,” he wrote on Thursday (November 28).
“To thank Mr. Shah Alam, I’ve decided to buy 100,000 bananas from his stand in New York’s Upper East Side. These bananas will be distributed free worldwide through his stand. Show a valid ID to claim one banana, while supplies last,” Sun continued.
He added: “This is not just a unique event but also a celebration of the beautiful connection between everyday life and art. I hope this gesture will help share the meaning of this special art story with more people.”
However, the 74-year-old vendor wasn’t thrilled by Sun’s promise. Speaking with The New York Times, Alam outlined the realities of fulfilling Sun’s enormous order. He said procuring tens of thousands of bananas from the Bronx wholesale market would cost him thousands, not to mention the practical difficulties of moving the boxes each containing 100 bananas.
“There’s not any profit in selling bananas,” Alam told the outlet before noting his net profit would only be $6,000 and because he only makes $12 an hour, working 12-hour shifts, he would have to forfeit the money to the stand owner.
The 53-year-old stand owner, Mohammad R. Islam, told The New York Times he’s split the profit evenly between himself, Alam, and his six other employees.
North Korea’s Kim Jong Un vows ‘steadfast support’ for Russia
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has vowed his country will “invariably support” Russia’s war in Ukraine as he met Russia‘s defence chief.
A Russian military delegation led by defence minister Andrei Belousov arrived in North Korea on Friday, amid growing international concern about the two countries’ expanding cooperation after North Korea sent thousands of troops to Russia last month.
Mr Kim and Mr Belousov reached “a satisfactory consensus” on boosting a strategic partnership and defending each country’s sovereignty, security interests and international justice in the face of the rapidly-changing international security environments in a Friday meeting.
Mr Kim said that North Korea “will invariably support the policy of the Russian Federation to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity from the imperialists’ moves for hegemony,” according to state-run KCNA.
North Korea has supported Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, calling it a defensive response to what both Moscow and Pyongyang call Nato’s “reckless” eastward advance and U.S.-led moves to stamp out Russia’s position as a powerful state.
Mr Kim slammed a US decision earlier in November to let Ukraine strike targets inside Russia with US-supplied longer-range missiles as a direct intervention in the conflict. He called recent Russian strikes on Ukraine “a timely and effective measure” demonstrate Russia’s resolve, KCNA said.
According to US, Ukrainian and South Korean assessments, North Korea has sent more than 10,000 troops to Russia and some of them have already begun engaging in combat on the frontlines. The US, South Korean and others say North Korea has also shipped artillery systems, missiles and other conventional weapons to replenish Russia’s exhausted weapons inventory.
Both North Korea and Russia haven’t formally confirmed the North Korean troops’ movements, and have steadfastly denied reports of weapons shipments.
South Korea, the US and their partners are concerned that Russia could give North Korea advanced weapons technology in return, including help to build more powerful nuclear missiles.
Last week, South Korean national security adviser Shin Wonsik told a local SBS TV program that Seoul assessed that Russia provided air defense missile systems to North Korea. He said Russia also appeared to have given economic assistance to North Korea and various military technologies, including those needed for the North’s efforts to build a reliable space-based surveillance system.
Mr Belousov also met North Korean defence minister No Kwang Chol on Friday. During a dinner banquet later the same day, Mr Belousov said the the two countries’ strategic partnership was crucial to defend their sovereignty from aggression and the arbitrary actions of imperialists, KCNA said.
In June, Mr Kim and Mr Putin signed a treaty requiring both countries to provide immediate military assistance if either is attacked. It’s considered the two countries’ biggest defence deal since the end of the Cold War.
Who is Bushra Bibi, Imran Khan’s wife leading Pakistan protests?
Bushra Bibi, who previously avoided the spotlight, has taken centre stage in her husband Imran Khan’s political party during its protest march to Islamabad that have led to deadly clashes with security forces.
Bushra Bibi, the third wife of the cricketer-turned-politician, narrowly escaped after her convoy came under attack and was later set on fire.
She has taken up a more active role in Mr Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) after being jailed for nine months following conviction in an unlawful marriage and corruption case.
Mr Khan and his wife were charged with illegally selling gifts worth more than 140 million rupees ($501,000; £3,94,988) in state possession and received during his 2018-2022 premiership.
However, a court overturned the conviction of unlawful marriage charges and granted her bail in the corruption case. She was finally released from prison in October while her husband still remains in jail. He has since been fighting over 150 cases that he claims are politically motivated.
Born Bushra Riaz Watto, Bushra Bibi changed her name after her marriage to the former Pakistani cricket star in 2018. Her title Bibi in Urdu denotes respect and is used by Muslim women in South Asia.
She is believed to be in her 40s and is an influential figure in Pakistan’s Sufi circle for her devotion to Sufism – a mystical and ascetic form of Islam that emphasises the inner, spiritual dimension of the religious practice.
The two were married in a secret ceremony months before Mr Khan ascended to premiership for the first time. It was Mr Khan’s third marriage after two divorces.
Mr Khan was previously married to Britain’s Jemima Goldsmith and journalist Reham Khan.
Mr Khan calls Bushra Bibi his spiritual leader for her devotion to Sufism. The former first lady is believed to be a devotee of the 13th century mystic, Fariduddin Masud Ganjshakar, more popularly known as Baba Farid. He is revered as a Muslim mystic and Sufi saint whose shrine is located in Pakpattan in Pakistan’s Punjab province.
Bushra Bibi has remained a figure of interest and intrigue in Pakistan. She belongs to a family of landowners in Punjab and details about her early life in public domain are scarce.
She was earlier married to Khawar Farid Maneka, a customs officer from a politically influential Punjab family and has five children from her first marriage.
She rarely appears in the media or follows Mr Khan on his international diplomatic trips with the exception of her visits to Saudi Arabia, where the couple was filmed at the holy Muslim cities of Mecca and Medina.
In a rare interview, she told the local HUM news network in 2018 that “people would come to see me to get closer to God and the Prophet”.
“Every moment of Khan sahib’s life is now dedicated to God, the Prophet, and the love for Baba Farid,” she said.
Bushra Bibi has earlier also defended her public appearances in veil. “My veil doesn’t define that I am not modern. I should be judged on the basis of my personality, not my face,” she said.
She is credited with inspiring Mr Khan to establish the Al-Qadir Trust, a non-governmental organisation devoted to spirituality and Islamic teachings, according to members of PTI.
However, the trust became embroiled in a legal case and reason for Mr Khan’s arrest in May last year after corruption charges were levelled against the couple. Mr Khan promoted the trust at official events, and the couple were the sole trustees, according to law minister Azam Nazeer Tarar.
Mr Khan’s party spokesperson Farrukh Habib told Reuters that the couple drew no financial benefits from the trust.
Bushra Bibi was seen in an open-roof vehicle with other stalwarts of the party and raised slogans as thousands of people marched alongside her to hold protests and demand the release of her husband who remains in jail.
She addressed thousands of supporters for the first time from atop a truck near the historic D-Chowk square where they vowed to hold a sit-in until Mr Khan was freed.
“You all need to promise that until Khan is amongst us, you won’t leave D-Chowk,” she said.
With her growing influence in PTI in the absence of the popular leader, she has become the latest target of the Pakistani government ministers, who have avoided mentioning her by name.
Interior minister Mohsin Naqvi told media the destruction during the protests this week was caused by “one woman”, adding that the root cause of the unrest was a “hidden hand”.
Zulfikar Bukhari, PTI’s spokesperson and Mr Khan’s close aide, said Bushra Bibi, who wanted to lead a private life, was taking a more active role on instructions of her husband.
“If she has come out and led this protest, it’s on the orders of Imran Khan and the people will obviously rally behind her unitedly because she is the wife of Imran Khan,” Mr Bukhari said.
He added that her near year-long imprisonment has earned her supporters’ admiration which had helped to mobilise the large numbers of protesters.
Underscoring her growing active role in PTI’s strategy, she insisted on holding the protest at a central and sensitive location, according to party officials.
Concerns were raised over her whereabouts after the vehicle in which she was leading the protest was set on fire. But PTI officials said she was evacuated in time and taken to the nearby PTI stronghold of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province after they received intelligence that her convoy could be attacked as forces launched a midnight crackdown to disperse the crowd.
Some analysts said that she would likely continue to act as a rallying figure while Mr Khan remained behind bars.
“Putting Bibi at the forefront of these protests is a politically savvy move, because of her relationship to Khan. That gives her a level of authenticity that appeals to protesters and will bolster their commitment to the cause,” said Michael Kugelman, director of the Wilson Center’s South Asia Institute.