Plea challenging Imran Khan, Bushra Bibi Nikah termed ‘inadmissible’

• District and sessions court says matter falls outside its jurisdiction.
• Plea termed “inadmissible” as it entailed case of Nikah during iddat.
• Petitioner alleged marriage was un-Islamic as it happened during iddat.

ISLAMABAD: A district and sessions court in Islamabad rejected the plea challenging the Nikah of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran with Bushra Bibi.

The application, according to the court, was “inadmissible” and fell outside its jurisdiction, as it entailed the case of Nikah during iddat, which is the period of waiting observed by Muslim women following the divorce or the death of their spouse.

Senior Civil Judge Nasrum Minallah announced the reserved decision on the case, the hearing of which was held today.

The petitioner’s counsel Raja Rizwan Abbasi argued why Khan remarried Bushra Bibi if their marriage was legal. He asserted that marriage during iddat was “illegal.”

“It is fraudulent to say that you will become the prime minister if you get married on the first day of 2018,” he said, continuing his arguments. “In January 2018, Bushra Bibi was in iddat. The divorce took place in November,” Abbasi added.

“Imran Khan’s marriage took place in Lahore. How does this court have jurisdiction?” the judge asked.

The lawyer responded by stating that the fraud began at Bani Gala in Islamabad and the Nikah officiator was also taken from Islamabad. “In February 2018, Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi’s Nikkah was again officiated.”

'Khan's third marriage based on fraud'

During the hearing of the case earlier this month, former PTI leader Aun Chaudhry said Khan's third marriage ceremony and wedding with the former first lady was based on fraud and claimed that the PTI chief divorced Reham Khan through an email on Bushra Bibi's advice.

Chaudhry, who is the adviser to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on sports and tourism, said that Bushra had told Khan that if he would marry her, he would become the prime minister. He also claimed Imran was aware that Bushra Bibi’s iddat had not ended but they still got married.

He also spoke about arranging Khan’s wedding ceremony at his request. “Mufti Saeed asked Bushra Bibi for the divorce certificate in front of me at the time of the marriage. When the news of the marriage broke in the media during Eid-ul-Fitr, the ceremony was redone on February 18.”i