ISLAMABAD: Celebrations of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders and workers proved short-lived on Saturday, as the party founder Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi were arrested by the NAB authorities again in a new Toshakhana case soon after they were ordered to be set free by a court in the Iddat case.
Additional District and Sessions Judge (ADSJ), Islamabad, Muhammad Afzal Majoka, accepted pleas of Imran and Bushra Bibi, seeking annulment of their conviction in the Iddat Nikah case, but a National Accountability Bureau (NAB) team arrested them for keeping precious Toshakhana gifts and selling them illegally.
Bushra Bibi was arrested again after her release at gate No 3 of Adiala jail, as per the jail manual, as she was not required in any other case. According to sources, Bushra Bibi will be kept in Adiala jail.
The couple was sentenced to seven years in prison, along with Rs500,000 fine each, in February this year, after a trial court found their Nikah to be fraudulent. Khawar Maneka, Bushra’s ex-husband, had moved the court against the couple’s marriage.
The couple was convicted on February 3, days before the general election, on a complaint filed by Bushra Bibi’s ex-husband, Khawar Fareed Maneka, who alleged that they contracted marriage during the former first lady’s Iddat period.
Previously, District and Sessions Judge (DSJ) Shahrukh Arjumand was hearing the case and had reserved the verdict in May. However, on the day of its expected announcement, he sought a transfer of the case, citing Maneka’s request for recusal from hearing the appeals. Subsequently, the case was transferred to the court of Additional DSJ Afzal Majoka.
Last month, ADSJ Majoka had rejected another set of pleas filed by Imran and his wife, seeking suspension of their sentences. The judge announced the judgment on Saturday at 3pm after reserving the verdict earlier in the day. After accepting their appeals, the judge said: “If they are not wanted in any other case, then PTI founder Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi should be released from jail immediately.”
Earlier on Saturday, a pair of applications was filed by Maneka; one sought medical checkup of Bushra Bibi to ascertain her menstrual cycle, while the other called for consultation with religious scholars and ulema on further deliberations on the duration of Iddat. The judge, in his order, dismissed both applications.
According to the short order, appeals filed by both appellants were accepted and the couple was acquitted of the charges. Also, the Central Prison Adiala superintendent was asked and authorised to release the couple forthwith if they were not required in any other case.
The verdict said: “Both the appellants contracted second marriage as per statement of complainant party after Iddat; therefore, this marriage has become valid marriage. Similarly, under Sunni law, an unlawful conjunction by way of marriage during Iddat period renders the marriage irregular and not void and an irregular marriage becomes regular the moment the bottleneck is removed i.e. Iddat period expires.”
It further said: “This court is of the view that the appellants have not gone through any marriage ceremony fraudulently or with dishonest intention, because none of the parties claim that Nikah was not performed and fraudulently he or she was supposed to believe that marriage ceremony was solemnised. In the instant case, it is case of the complainant that on Jan 1, 2018, Nikah of the appellants was performed and then second Nikah was performed in February 2018. In this way, by no stretch of imagination, it was a marriage with dishonest or fraudulent intention.”
The order said it was also “surprising” that Maneka “remained passive” for six years to pursue his right of return, adding that the period for it had already expired by the time the complaint was filed. It concluded that he had failed to prove his case. At the outset of the hearing on Saturday, Maneka’s lawyer Advocate Zahid Asif said Imran’s legal team had mentioned bringing witnesses to the court during the previous proceedings. “If they want to bring witnesses they can; we don’t have any objections,” he stated, adding that the court could accept evidence at any point during the case.
Referring to previous hearing, during which the judge had observed that Maneka, being the follower of the Hanafi sect, had lost the right to conciliation with Bushra Bibi, Asif pointed out that nowhere was the Hanafi sect mentioned nor had Mufti Saeed said anything regarding it.
He claimed that Imran was putting the entire responsibility of the case on “Bushra Bibi’s shoulders”. “The husband is sidelining his wife’s sacrifices and saying that he is innocent,” the lawyer alleged, adding that such behaviour was not expected from a leader. He then recited some verses of Allama Iqbal’s poetry in court. ADSJ Majoka remarked: “This is not possible. The marriage took place, both of them are responsible.”
Continuing his arguments, Advocate Asif contended that Bushra Bibi had said Maneka divorced her thrice verbally. “There is no standing of a verbal divorce. The law says that documented evidence weighs more,” he said.
The lawyer stated that neither Imran nor his spouse mentioned in any of their statements that their marriage took place after the completion of Iddat period. He said that despite being given a chance, they also refused to present witnesses in court. At one point, Asif also lamented that he was not given ample time to present his arguments in court.
Imran’s counsel Salman Akram Raja, citing the Muslim Family Laws Ordinance 1961, stated that there was no point in the 90-day argument (Iddat period) because divorce papers were not sent by Maneka. “Even if we accept their argument, there can be a legal defect, but the marriage can’t be called fraud,” Raja said. He also highlighted that Maneka, in his statement, had called Bushra Bibi his ex-wife, adding that a photocopy of the divorce papers had already been presented in court. After Raja wrapped up his arguments, the court reserved the verdict in the case.
PTI lawyers, leaders and supporters celebrated outside the court following the verdict. However, shortly after that, the PTI condemned reports of a NAB team reaching the jail to arrest Imran and Bushra Bibi in a new Toshakhana case. A team of the anti-corruption watchdog, headed by Deputy Director Mohsin Haroon, later reached the Adiala jail and arrested the couple in the new reference, related to alleged “misuse of power for acquiring Toshakhana gifts”, the sources added.
Sources said NAB accused PTI founder Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi of misuse of the Toshakhana gifts. The investigation centred on illegal possession and sale of seven high-value watches among 10 other precious gifts, including diamond and gold jewelery. According to the inquiry report, items such as Graff and Rolex watches and diamond jewellery were allegedly sold without being legally owned or deposited in the Toshakhana, as required by law.
Also, a set of expensive Graff watches were sold without following proper retention procedures. It stressed that the legal requirement that all gifts must first be reported and deposited in the Toshakhana, with only items valued up to Rs30,000 allowed to be retained by recipients.
In another development, the sources revealed that Lahore police did not make any progress in nabbing the former prime minister after his interim bails were dismissed by the anti-terrorism court (ATC) earlier this week. It emerged that Khan’s arrest was not declared in the May 9, 2023, riots cases as per the Adiala jail records. A Lahore Police team also visited Adiala jail to arrest the PTI founder, the sources added.
Another team of anti-graft body also visited the Rawalpindi jail under the supervision of NAB Assistant Director Naeemullah.
Sources said Bushra Bibi’s lawyers also submitted a pre-arrest bail plea in the court that heard the £190 million National Crime Agency (NCA) settlement case on Saturday, citing her expected arrest in the new NAB reference.
Meanwhile, the PTI founder challenged the rejection of his interim bails in three cases in the Lahore High Court (LHC). In the petitions filed through his lawyer, Barrister Salman Safdar, Imran Khan argued that he was the former prime minister and that the Anti-Terrorism Court dismissed his bails in three cases related to May 9 riots contrary to the facts. The petitions request the high court to overturn the trial court’s decision and grant interim bails to him.
PTI lawyer Naeem Haider Panjutha told journalists outside the jail: “NAB should be ashamed of themselves for completely destroying their credibility, and for carrying out illegal activities. After the most disgusting case, they now want to arrest Bushra Bibi in another bogus case.” He called on the courts to take notice of the matter.
Later on, the PTI core committee Saturday hailed the acquittal of Imran Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi, in the Iddat case as a resounding victory for truth and justice, and demanded their immediate release from ‘unjust detention’. The committee held an emergency meeting on one-point agenda to discuss the decision in what it called most absurd and reprehensible case against Imran Khan and his spouse.
The forum strongly condemned the ‘attempts by the mandate-thief government and the brutal state machinery’ to forcibly deprive Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi of their fundamental legal rights despite their acquittal in all cases.
The participants of the forum warned that they would be left with no option but to launch a nationwide resistance movement if Imran Khan and his wife were not released forthwith. The committee warned that they would directly approach the people’s court to get justice now. The meeting noted that the law and judicial interpretations did not allow multiple cases on the same issue; however, in the case of Imran Khan and his wife, the state elements were not ready to take any law into account.
