ISLAMABAD  -  Khawar Maneka, former husband of Imran Khan’s wife Bushra Bibi, Satur­day challenged the for­mer prime minister’s un-Islamic marriage with his ex-wife in the district and sessions court.

The development came only a day after petitioner Muhammad Hanif with­drew a similar petition challenging the nikkah of the PTI chief due to techni­cal reasons. Maneka, who recently hit out at his for­mer wife in a TV interview, termed the PTI chief nik­kah as fraudulent, saying the marriage was solemnised during the iddat period (the time a woman goes into isolation after her husband dies or divorces her). “That above said nikkah and marriage ceremony was neither legal nor Islamic as it was solemnised without observing iddat period,” ac­cording to the petition. In his petition, Maneka reit­erated the allegations that he made in the interview, accusing PTI chief Imran of ruining his entire life, “stigmatised the complainant and his family just to achieve his unethical and immoral objects through intrusion in complainant’s peaceful marital life..”

“In light of above, it is humbly prayed that re­spondents No.1 [Imran Khan] and 2 [Bushra Bibi] be summoned and punished strictly in accordance with law in the interest of justice,” the petition­er prayed to the court. Maneka also recorded his statement before the civil judge and a hearing of the case has fixed been for November 28 Mufti Saeed, Aun Chaudhry, and Muhammad Latif have been nominated as witnesses in the petition.

In the tell-all interview earlier this week, Mane­ka claimed that he holds Imran Khan responsible for breaking up his ‘happy home’. Starting with the tale of how his ex-wife and the former prime min­ister met, Maneka said they were introduced by Bushra Bibi’s sister Maryam Wattoo. 

Claiming that he and Bushra Bibi [whom he re­fers to as ‘Pinky’] had a “happy marriage and home” when Imran Khan entered the scene af­ter which his home was “broken”, Maneka said that when Imran’s visits became more regular his mother warned him about Imran’s “reputation” -— and “I also started resisting [his coming over].”

Khawar Maneka claimed that he had divorced Bushra Bibi on November 14th, 2017 and Bushra Bibi married to Imran Khan on January 1st, 2018 be­cause of “prophecy” in a private ceremony. The cou­ple in February 2018 did the Nikkah ceremony again to show that it was done after the period of Iddat.