Iddat Case: Maneka says argument of '39-day of iddat period' may cause damage to spirit of Sharia laws

Islamabad: Khawar Maneka while quoting the Holy Quran said that why her former wife Bushra Bibi did not show any restrain to avoid the prevailing situation, raising a question that why was she in hurry to get married with PTI Founder Imran Khan.

“PTI went to the PEMRA after a local reporter broke the story of Bushra’s marriage with Imran Khan,” said Khawar Maneka while addressing a press conference in Islamabad.

He referred to the story reported by journalist Umar Cheema.

“Why there was urgency ?,” he asked.

He said that he and his close family members were blamed but nobody raised the question about the role of Bushra Bibi and Imran Khan.

Maneka said that they [Imran and Bushra] did Nikah again on February 18 and concealed the facts.

Without mentioning Imran Khan’s name, he said that he used to claim fairness in everything and used to give instances from the western society and culture but what he did was exactly against what he said.

He regretted that the matter of the marriage was also politicized.

Khawar Maneka went on to say that he was worried about the direction of the society this time and was addressing the press conference just to sensitize the people about the gravity of the situation and changing culture, adding that Iddat was declared important to save the marriages in Islam.

“I divorced Bushra on Nov 14. My children tried to stop me. My mother got admitted into a hospital and later she died. I was in the hospital when the brother of Bushra Bibi came to me to condole the death of my mother. He was not aware of the marriage of Bushra Bibi with Imran Khan at that time,” said Maneka.

He also regretted over the role of social media that the truth was being covered.

“We promote such characters [Imran Khan] in our society. We must look at such characters before making any decision. We are losing our eastern culture,” he added.

He stated that this marriage fanned trend of such marriages as two lawyers came to him and they said that the marriaed women started following the path of Bushra Bibi. 

“39-day period of iddat is being mentioned by the lawyers of Bushra Bibi before the court. They can win the case but it is not about the victory rather it is about Islam, Islamic norms and culture.  I am just concerned about that they are going to make it legalized in the country that 39-day period of Iddat is sufficient for re-marriage. This is against the spirit of Sharia law,” he claimed.

Maneka said that when Sharia law is clear then why the arguments are being made in this case, fearing that such efforts eventually would cause a clash with  the spirit of Sharia laws in the Muslim society.

“Inform the people what is happening here,” he said while urging the media to play its due role.

Talking about the delaying tactics, he said that he was being blamed for the delay in the case but the facts  are not like that. He said that the case before decisioin in the Iddat case continued without any interruption and finally the verdict came against them [Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi].