ISLAMABAD: The ex-husband of former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan’s third wife Bushra Bibi was attacked by one of the prime minister’s lawyers outside a court here as he appeared for an appeal hearing against the couple’s conviction in an un-Islamic marriage case.
Khan, 71, and Bibi, 49, were each sentenced to seven years in prison by a court on February 3 for marrying during the Iddah period, the mandatory period in Islam before a woman can remarry after the death of her husband or divorce.
The suit was filed by Bushra’s ex-husband, Kawal Maneka, against the couple in November 2023, alleging that Bushra got married without observing the mandatory Iddat waiting period. Maneka asked the court to annul the marriage.
The court on May 23 reserved its ruling on the appeal, which was scheduled to be handed down on Wednesday.
During the hearing of an appeal filed by Bushra and her husband Khan, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder, against their conviction in the case, Islamabad District Court Judge Shah Rukh Arjumand entered the courtroom without delivering the verdict.
Following this, PTI lawyers hurled bottles at the court and Maneka’s lawyers escorted him out of the court.
However, as he was being escorted out, PTI lawyers attacked him inside the court, causing him to fall to the ground.
The two married in 2018, the same year Mr Khan won elections and became prime minister. Mr Bushra was ostensibly Mr Khan’s spiritual mentor, but the two grew increasingly romantically involved as they met. She was divorcing her husband after 28 years of marriage and five children.
She is the third wife of Khan, a former cricketing hero who was known as a playboy during his sporting heyday.
Published May 29, 2024 10:09 IST
