Pak: Imran Khan-Led PTI To Approach HC To Challenge 'Shameless' Verdict In 'Un-Islamic Nikah' Case

<p><strong>New Delhi:</strong> The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf party on Saturday announced that it will move the high court against the trial court's verdict that sentenced its founder and ex-premier Imran Khan and wife Bushra Bibi to seven years in the &lsquo;un-Islamic nikah&rsquo; case. This is Khan&rsquo;s fourth conviction since 2022 and adds to the troubles of the beleaguered founder of the political party ahead of the February 8 polls.&nbsp;</p> <p>Senior Civil Judge Qudratullah sentenced Khan, 71, and his Bushra Biwi, 49, and also slapped fines of Rs 5,00,000 each on the couple at the Adiala Jail premises at Rawalpindi.</p> <p>Ahead of the general elections next week, Khan&rsquo;s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) party has been robbed of the iconic election symbol of the cricket bat, his and his party colleagues&rsquo; nomination papers have been rejected and at least one of his party leaders has been killed in the poll-related violence.&nbsp;</p> <p>Speaking to the media outside the Adiala jail, <a title="Imran Khan" href="https://ift.tt/yKo0PNU" data-type="interlinkingkeywords">Imran Khan</a>'s lawyer, Barrister Gohar Khan, said that &ldquo;shameless, scandalous and unethical allegations&rdquo; have been made for political motives. &ldquo;This is a case that has no basis whatsoever, but in fact, was simply filed on the behest of Aun Chaudhry &mdash; a former close aid of Khan and one of the key witnesses in the said case,&rdquo; Geo News reported quoting Gohar Khan. &ldquo;The cleric, who solemnised the nikah, has himself admitted that Chaudhry &lsquo;picked him up&rsquo;,&rdquo; Gohar told reporters.&nbsp;</p> <p>In response to a question regarding the legal grounds for Saturday&rsquo;s sentence, Khan&rsquo;s counsel revealed that the judge maintained that the defence&rsquo;s reliance on the Supreme Court verdict regarding the 39-day iddat is a &ldquo;general precedent&rdquo; and is not applicable in this case. He further said that the court relied on the second function, held for family and children to take them into confidence, as the &ldquo;valid nikah&rdquo; instead of the actual nikah that was solemnised before that.</p> <p>The judge considered the second function as the actual nikah and not the first,&rdquo; Geo News reported. &ldquo;All of this is being done in violation of the constitution for political motives and character assassination of Khan sahib,&rdquo; the Barrister said referring to the PTI head. Asserting that the party will move the high court against the verdict, Gohar Khan said, &ldquo;We are hopeful for justice if these cases are presented before a free and fair tribunal. I call on the judiciary to uphold their oath and protect our fundamental rights by ensuring principles of justice.&rdquo;&nbsp;</p> <p>Conveying the PTI&rsquo;s founder message for his voters, the lawyer said that the former premier has called on his supporters to remain peaceful and persevere in these tough times. &ldquo;Even if I have to spend a thousand years here [in jail], I would not make any deal,&rdquo; Gohar Khan said quoting Khan.&nbsp;</p> <p><em><strong>(This report has been published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. Apart from the headline, no editing has been done in the copy by ABP Live.)</strong></em></p>

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