<\/p>\n
A Rawalpindi trial court on Tuesday indicted former prime minister Imran Khan and his spouse Bushra Bibi in the Iddat case.<\/p>\n
The charges against the couple were framed by senior civil judge Qudratullah on a complaint filed<\/a> by Bushra Bibi\u2019s ex-husband Khawar Farid Maneka under Sections 34 (common intention), 496 (marriage ceremony fraudulently gone through without lawful marriage) and 496B (fornication) of the Pakistan Penal Code.<\/p>\n The hearing was conducted at Adiala Jail, where Imran is incarcerated. Ever since his arrest<\/a> in August last year, the PTI founder has been indicted in multiple cases, including the Toshakhana reference<\/a>, cipher case<\/a> and the contempt case<\/a> against the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).<\/p>\n Last week, despite being already incarcerated, Imran was arrested<\/a> by Ra\u00adw\u00ada\u00adlpindi police in at least a dozen cases pertaining to the May 9 violence, including the attack on the Gene\u00adral Headquarters (GHQ).<\/p>\n At the previous hearing, Judge Qudratullah had deferred the indictment in the Iddat case due to Bushra Bibi\u2019s absence. Separately, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) had reserved<\/a> its order a day earlier on a petition seeking to stay trial proceedings in the case.<\/p>\n During the hearing today, Bushra Bibi and Imran appeared before Judge Qudratullah. However, the former first lady left the hearing midway citing health reasons.<\/p>\n \u201cShe is not feeling well and has left for the hospital,\u201d PTI lawyer Usman Gul told the court.<\/p>\n At that, the judge inquired if Bushra Bibi had taken permission before leaving the hearing halfway through. \u201cThere is a procedure that needs to be followed when one wants to leave. You are a lawyer, you must know that,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n \u201cHave you ever, to date, fulfilled any commitment?\u201d the irked judge asked the PTI lawyer. He recalled that the court had issued arrest warrants at the previous hearing but withdrew them \u201ckeeping the esteem\u201d of PTI leader Latif Khosa.<\/p>\n Subsequently, Gul filed a plea seeking permission for Bushra Bibi\u2019s exemption from the hearing. However, prosecutor Rizwan Abbasi opposed the petition, arguing that the medical report submitted by Imran\u2019s spouse didn\u2019t show any medical problems.<\/p>\n \u201cBushra Bibi was in court, she cannot deceive anyone like that,\u201d he further contended.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Judge Qudratullah said a petition for exemption from hearing was only filed when a person was not in the court. \u201cBut Bushra Bibi was in court and she left without taking permission,\u201d he noted and sought details of the time of the former first lady\u2019s entry and exit from jail.<\/p>\n Addressing the jail authorities, the judge inquired: \u201cWith whose permission did you allow Bushra Bibi to leave prison?\u201d In response, the Adiala Jail superintendent said Imran\u2019s spouse entered the prison at 11:30am and left at 1:45pm.<\/p>\n \u201cBushra Bibi left the court right before the lawyers arrived,\u201d Rizwan said, claiming that this happened under a \u201cconspiracy\u201d.<\/p>\n For his part, the PTI lawyer said \u201cthe sky will not fall\u201d if the indictment was delayed for a day or two to fulfil the legal requirements in the case. But, despite objections from Gul, the court framed charges against the suspects in Bushra Bibi\u2019s absence.<\/p>\n \u201cDid you understand the accusations?\u201d the judge subsequently asked Imran. The PTI founder responded that he couldn\u2019t understand the legal jargon but at the same time contended that \u201call this is happening under the London Plan\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThis case was filed under a planning, they want to dismantle my party,\u201d Imran said. \u201cThey first pick up people, torture them and then \u2018update their software\u2019,\u201d he alleged.<\/p>\n Imran also rejected the charges against him and pleaded not guilty.<\/p>\n Subsequently, the court adjourned the hearing till Jan 18 and summoned witnesses at the upcoming proceedings.<\/p>\n According to Maneka, he was \u201chappily married\u201d to Bushra Bibi since 1989 \u201ctill the intrusion of\u201d Imran Khan into their marital affair \u201cunder the garb of peeri mureedi\u201d. He recalled that his sister-in-law, Maryam, who resides in the UAE, introduced Imran to them during the 2014 sit-in held by PTI in Islamabad.<\/p>\n Imran then started visiting his house in his absence, Maneka claimed, adding that he used to stay there for hours in his absence. \u201c[This] conduct on his part was highly unethical, un-Islamic [as] he had no reason to stay,\u201d he alleged, adding that the visits \u201cbecame very frequent with the passage of time, and at one point, respondent No. 1 [Imran Khan] was ousted by me with disgrace\u201d. He said his servant, Lateef, informed him about Imran\u2019s frequent visits.<\/p>\n The petition said Imran\u2019s close friend Zulfi Bukhari used to accompany him even though he was never Bushra Bibi\u2019s disciple. On instances, Bukhari also came to Maneka\u2019s house alone, he claimed.<\/p>\n The PTI founder and Bushra Bibi remained in contact with each other for which cell phones and SIMs were provided to the latter by her friend, Farah Khan aka Farhat Shahzadi, Maneka alleged. \u201cI have reason to believe that they have developed illicit relations with each other even prior to their so-called nikah.\u201d<\/p>\n He stated that harsh words were exchanged between the couple over his ex-wife\u2019s conduct, but she \u201ccame up with a cover-up story of spiritualism\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cI tried my best to reconcile the situation for the sake of my family,\u201d Maneka stated, adding that contact between his ex-wife and Imran continued till Nov 14, 2017, when he \u201chalf-heartedly divorced\u201d Bushra Bibi.<\/p>\n Maneka claimed that even after the divorce, he was interested in reconciliation through his mother, but \u201cmy plans of reconciliation were frustrated due to [their] premature nikah\u201d allegedly solemnised without observing the iddat period.<\/p>\n A month after their divorce, Farah Khan contacted him and asked to change the date on divorce papers, Maneka claimed, added that he \u201cflatly refused\u201d to do so.<\/p>\n He accused Imran Khan of ruining his life and stigmatising his entire family. He claimed that the former premier and Bushra Bibi \u201ccommitted a heinous offence by having illicit relations with each other before marriage and contracting nikah during the iddat period\u201d, which contravenes the teachings of Islam.<\/p>\n \u201cI avoided reporting the matter because I was considering it my family matter \u2026 but now, things have gone public; that\u2019s why I am before the court,\u201d Maneka added.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A Rawalpindi trial court on Tuesday indicted former prime minister Imran Khan and his spouse Bushra Bibi in the Iddat case. The charges against the couple were framed by senior civil judge Qudratullah on a complaint filed by Bushra Bibi\u2019s ex-husband Khawar Farid Maneka under Sections 34 (common intention), 496 (marriage ceremony fraudulently gone through […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":48632,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.dawn.com\/large\/2024\/01\/16170409c2c9752.png?r=180642","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48631","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-top-news"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48631","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48631"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48631\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48632"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}The case<\/h2>\n