Former Pak PM Imran Khan married Bushra Bibi during her Iddat, says cleric

Islamabad [Pakistan], April 13 (ANI): Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan married Bushra Bibi during her Iddat period, a cleric who solemnised their wedding told a court in Islamabad, reported Dawn.

Mufti Mohammad Saeed made the testimony before Senior Civil Judge Nasrum Minallah on Wednesday during the hearing of a petition seeking legal action against the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chairman for marrying his current wife Bushra Bibi while she was reportedly on Iddat, as per the Dawn report.

As per the news report, Iddat is a 130-day waiting period after the dissolution of a woman's marriage through divorce, death, or any other form of separation from her husband, during which the woman remains unmarried.

Former Pakistan PM Imran Khan married Bushra Bibi in Feb 2018. Khan's friend Zulfi Bukhari and former party leader Aon Chaudhry had said that Mufti Saeed solemnised the marriage in Lahore. They both also stood witness to the marriage.

In the statement before the court, Mufti Mohammad Saeed said he had close ties with Imran Khan and was part of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)'s core committee, according to Dawn report.

The cleric said that Khan on January 1, 2018, asked him to solemnise his marriage with Bushra Bibi in Lahore. Imran Khan took Mufti Mohammad Saeed to a house in the Defence Society where he met the relatives of PTI chairman and Bushra Bibi.

Mufti Mohammad Saeed said, "I obtained, from both sides, sundry details before performing the Nikah. I also asked her about her first marriage and divorce," as per the Dawn report. The cleric further said that a woman who accompanied Bushra Bibi introduced herself as her sister and told him that all requirements for the marriage under Shariah were complete.

The cleric solemnised the marriage of Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi in January. However, Mufti Saeed recalled that Imran Khan contacted him in February 2018 with a request to perform the Nikkah again as the first one was against the principles of Shariah, as per the news report.

In his testimony, Mufti Mohammad Saeed said, "I was told that the Nikah was solemnised during Bushra Bibi's Iddat as she had been divorced in Nov 2017", as per the Dawn report. He further said, "But there was a 'prediction' that the PTI chairman will become prime minister if he marries Bushra on Jan 1, 2018."

The cleric claimed that Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi deliberately entered into an "illegal and un-Islamic" union due to 'a mere prediction' as the PTI chairman was convinced that he would become Pakistan's PM if he got married on New Year's Day in 2018. (ANI)