A session court in Islamabad declared the illegal nikkah case against Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi to be maintainable.

The court has issued notices to both for a hearing on July 20.

Imran Khan has been accused of marrying Bushra Maneka before her iddat had ended. the case was orignally closed by court but was recently reopened.

Civil judge Nasr Minallah had declared the case to be outside the court’s purview and had closed it.

However, Minallah’s ruling was anulled and the session court was ordered to hear the case again.

Mufti Saeed Khan has already told the Islamabad High Court that he officiated over Imran Khan’s nikkah with Bushra Bibi in violation of sharia laws in 2018.

Saeed told the court that he was on good terms with Imran Khan and was a member of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s core committee in January 2018 he was received a call from Imran Khan. He said that Imran asked him to officiate his nikkah in Lahore.

He said that he was taken to a house in Lahore’s Defence Housing Authority where Bushra Bibi was present with another woman who identified herself as Bushra’s sister.

Mufti Saeed said that he asked if Bushra’s iddat (waiting period) had been completed to which the woman replied in the affirmative. She added that all sharia requirements for the marriage were complete. Mufti Saeed also said that Imran Khan also told him that Bushra’s divorce with Khawar Maneka had been finalised in November 2017, so her iddat was over.

The mufti also claimed that Imran had told him of a prediction by Bushra Bibi, saying that Imran would become prime minister if he married her.

Cipher case

The Lahore High Court withdrew an stay order against Imran Khan in the cipher case on Tuesday.

The court had orignally stopped investigation on the cipher and told the Federal Investigation Agency not to summon Imran Khan in the case.

The reserved decision was announced by Justice Baqir Najafi.

The deputy attorney general told the court that investigations over the cipher were already underway in Islamabad. He also revealed that testimonies and statements from multiple people had already been collected including Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Asad Umar and multiple officers from the Foreign Office.

He also told the court that since the investigation was taking place in Islamabad, the matter fell within the jursidiction of the Islamabad High Court so the stay order must be withdrawn.

Imran Khan’s lawyer did not appear in court and submitted a written reply.