An Islamabad district and sessions court has rejected the petitions of PTI founder Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi for their sentences to be suspended in the iddat case. Additional District and Sessions Judge Afzal Majoka announced the verdict, which was reserved on Tuesday. Earlier this month, the Islamabad High Court issued a directive to the session court to announce a decision within 10 days regarding Bushra Bibi’s plea.
Bushra Bibi had moved the IHC against the conviction in the Nikah case in which she and Imran Khan were awarded seven years in jail besides a fine of Rs 500,000 each. PTI would go to the appeal against the rejection of their pleas, announced the Opposition Leader in the National Assembly, Omar Ayub Khan.
Imran Khan was married to Bushra Bibi in Lahore in February 2018. Only very close relatives and friends were present at the ceremony — but not his sisters. The Nikah was performed by Mufti Saeed; Awn Chaudhry and Zulfi Bukhari were its witnesses.
Khawar Maneka, Bushra Bibi’s former husband, had claimed last year that the marriage was illegal and against Sharia. They had registered a complaint against the “un-Islamic marriage”. It was claimed by them that the couple had been married within the three-month iddat period following Bushra Bibi’s divorce. In February this year, a Pak court sentenced Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi to seven years imprisonment for the “un-Islamic” iddat case, ordering each of them to pay a fine of Rs 500,000.
The rejection of pleas challenges the court’s decision by upholding the original sentences, and the PTI is going to proceed further with litigation processes. Having significant legal and political implications for the PTI, it has huge public and media attention in Pakistan.
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