A Pakistan-based court has turned down an application by the ex-PM, free academic papers Imran Khan, who asked the court not to implement some parts of the February verdict that his marriage to Bushra Bibi in 2018 was unlawful under Islamic law.
The ruling by the Islamabad court on Thursday implies that Khan and his spouse will continue residing in prison following a seven-year prison sentence given to them only days before the nation’s general elections in February.
This marriage case was filed last year by Bibi’s former husband, Khawar Maneka, in which he accused his divorced wife of not waiting for the obligatory three months required under Islamic law to marry Khan.
Maneka says he divorced Bibi in November of 2017, and Khan announced his third marriage to the former first lady in February 2018, a few months before he became the Prime Minister.
It was another blow to the high-profile couple, who had gazetted several appeals in a bid to have set aside the February conviction, in vain as Thursday affirmed the verdict. Another appeal was supposed to be heard starting from the 2nd of July.
This marks one of the many legal challenges that have befallen the cricketer-turned-politician after he was removed from the premiership through a no-confidence vote last year.
Sayed Zulfiqar Bukhari, a member of Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) condemned the ruling of the judiciary, saying that it is a sad day for the judiciary, while others speaking with hatred to those few who want to destroy all institutions.
However, the incumbent political party, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN), accused Khan of attempting to ‘seed anarchy’ in the country since the former premier continues to pose a significant threat to the incumbent political establishment despite legal prosecutions.
The future of elections and Khan’s eligibility to contest in future elections are also questionable now, and this judgment will shake the instability of Pakistan’s politics in the coming months.
