Bushra Bibi’s ‘distrust’ of judge leads to lack of witness testimony

RAWALPINDI: Extraordinary scenes broke out at Rawalpindi Jail in Adiala on Friday in the ₹190 million NCA scandal as jailed Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Bushra Bibi, Imran Khan, expressed her distrust in judge of the court responsible for this case.

At the beginning of the hearing, Bushra Bibi came to the podium and expressed her lack of faith in the accountability court judge.

As the court of jurisdiction began the hearing, the former first lady entered the courtroom in aggressive style and sat separately from the former prime minister, his sisters and her daughters.

She later went to the podium and told the judge that she had no confidence in the judges who heard the previous cases or in this court. She complained that she was not informed about the hearing scheduled for May 15 at Rawalpindi Adiala Prison.

The judge noted that the hearing scheduled for May 15 had been adjourned.

Bushra Bibi added that she was not a prisoner in the NCA scandal but was imprisoned due to “injustice”.

After Bushra’s remarks, Imran approached the podium and asked his spouse to accompany him to the family corner.

However, she decided not to meet even her daughters, who were sitting next to Imran’s sisters. She met her daughters when they were assigned a separate room.

During the hearing, the PTI founder kept walking towards his lawyers, wife, sisters and lawyers in the courtroom. He was also seen whispering to his wife many times.

The former prime minister and his lawyers have asked the arbitration court for time to persuade Bushra Bibi to withdraw her expression of lack of faith in the judge. At the lawyers’ request, the hearing was interrupted three times.

After detailed discussions, Imran and his lawyers contacted the judge to withdraw his comments expressing distrust. They also asked the court to hold another hearing after 15 days and also filed an appeal in response to the court’s notices issued yesterday.

The court then adjourned the hearing until May 22 without any of the witnesses testifying today.

Talking to journalists outside Adiala Jail, PTI lawyer Naeem Panjutha confirmed that Bushra Bibi had expressed lack of faith in the judge during his hearing today over the slow process.

He said that the PTI founder had demanded a medical examination at Shaukat Khanum Hospital. Panjutha alleged that Pims’ doctors prepared false “self-generated reports” on the imprisoned former prime minister.

He also confirmed that Bushra Bibi also refused to allow Pims doctors to undergo medical examinations.

The lawyer claimed that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) wants to file a fresh case against Imran.

In a previous case, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday approved the PTI founder’s bail application under the NCA settlement of ₹190 million. The Supreme Court ordered the authorities to release the PTI founder on a surety of Rs 1 million.

NCN scandal

In December last year, NAB filed a £190 million lawsuit with the NCA against Imran Khan, Bushra Bibi and others.

The other accused named in the link are Farhat Shezadi (Farah Gogi), Mirza Shehzad Akbar, Zulfi Bukhari and others.

In the suit, NAB Rawalpindi alleged that the defendants, in concert with each other, had committed the offense of corruption and corrupt practices as defined punishable under the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO) 1999.