Pakistan court summons former PM Imran Khan, wife Bushra Bibi in illegal marriage case

Islamabad [Pakistan]: The district and sessions court in Islamabad has termed the case against the “illegal” marriage of former Prime Minister Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi as admissible in court and summoned both of them on July 20, Geo TV reported.

Civil Judge Qudratullah announced the verdict and issued notices to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman and his wife.

Petitioner Muhammad Hanif had claimed that Bushra Bibi was divorced by her former husband in November 2017 and married Khan in January 2018, despite her ‘iddat’ period not having ended and stated that it “is against Sharia and Muslim norms.”

As per the Geo TV report, Iddat is a 130-day waiting period after the dissolution of a woman’s marriage through divorce, death, or any other form of separation from her husband, during which the woman remains unmarried.

Cleric Mufti Muhammad Saeed who conducted the marriage between Imran and Bushra submitted in his statements to court that Khan had married Bushra Bibi during the latter’s iddat, despite knowing everything.

He quoted Khan as saying that Bushra Bibi had been divorced on November 2017 and that there was a “prediction” that the PTI chairman would become the prime minister of Pakistan if he married Bushra Bibi.

Last week, Additional District and Sessions Judge (ADSJ) Islamabad Muhammad Azam Khan remanded the case to a civil judge and dismissed another civil court’s verdict declaring a petition challenging the legality of the marriage objectionable, according to Geo TV.
Saeed in his statement to a lower court, said that he had solemnised Khan’s nikah with Bushra Bibi over the assurance of a woman claiming to be the former first lady’s sister.

“Then the former premier contacted me again on February 2018 and requested me to solemnise his Nikah with Bushra Bibi again as the first time it was against the Shariah,” Saeed added in his statement before the court.