Imran and Bushra contracted nikah 48 days after her divorce, says lawyer

Imran Khan’s lawyer Salman Akram Raja has told an Islamabad court that the PTI founder and Bushra Bibi contracted their nikah 48 days after Khawar Maneka divorced her.

Judge Shahrukh Arjumand of the District and Sessions Court heard one appeal each from Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi challenging their sentences.

For getting married before Bushra Bibi’s iddah, which is typically four lunar months and ten days or 125 days after the divorce, they were each given a seven-year prison sentence.

When Rizwan Abbasi, the attorney for Khawar Maneka, failed to appear in court, Raja showed the judge an image of Rizwan Abbasi sitting in the adjacent courtroom on his cell phone. According to him, Abbasi was unwilling to appear in court.

The judge decided to proceed with the hearing without Abbasi and Khawar Maneka in the audience and allowed Raja to present his arguments.

Salman Akram Raja informed the court that at least 48 days had passed by the time Khawar Maneka acknowledged in court that he had divorced Bushra Bibi on November 14, 2017.

Raja said Bushra and Imran Khan contracted nikah 48 days after the divorce.

He said Imran Khan had never denied the nikah.

The PTI counsel said Imran Khan had already told the trial court that a ceremony was held in February after he had informed his sons about the nikah and that it was a mere wedding blessing ceremony. It was not a nikah ceremony, according to Raja.

Raja referred to the Supreme Court verdict in the Rashida Akhtar case and said the court would have to adopt the verdict.

Bushra Bibi and Imran Khan were both given seven years in prison for getting married before their iddah ended in February 2024.

Later, the district and sessions court postponed until April 9.

Read More: Islamabad court acquits Imran Khan in another case