(): Jailed ex-Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan’s wife, Bushra Bibi, on Monday moved the Islamabad High Court seeking a medical examination at a hospital after alleging that she was poisoned while incarcerated at their private residence, which was turned into a sub-jail.
The plea was filed in Islamabad High Court (IHC) by Shoaib Shaheen on behalf of Bushra Bibi, seeking the former first lady’s medical examination in the Shaukat Khanum Hospital, which is owned by Khan’s charitable organisation, ARY news channel reported. It stated that Bushra, 49, was poisoned in sub-jail Bani Gala (Imran Khan’s home in Islamabad), and therefore, her medical examination should be conducted, the report said. Earlier this month, during the hearing of a corruption case in the Adiala jail, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party founder Khan informed the judge that there had been an attempt to poison his wife and said that she had marks on her skin and tongue as a side effect of the “poisoning”.
However, Bushra Bibi’s personal physician conducted a medical checkup and ascertained that she had not been given any poisonous substance.
In a statement, PTI leader Barrister Gohar Ali Khan said they would only accept the medical reports issued by a personal physician, demanding a medical examination at Shaukat Khanum Hospital. Khan, 71, has been lodged at the Adiala Jail since August last year, while Bushra Bibi, was imprisoned at Khan’s Bani Gala residence that had been turned into a sub-jail since she was sentenced in the ‘un-Islamic nikah’ case in February.
Aseefa takes oath as Pakistan MP
Aseefa Bhutto-Zardari, the youngest daughter of slain former Pakistan prime minister Benazir Bhutto, on Monday formally launched her political career after taking oath as a Member of Parliament.
She was elected unopposed as a member of the National Assembly last month from NA-207 Shaheed Benazirabad (formerly Nawabshah) area of her native Sindh province. The seat was vacated by her father Asif Ali Zardari after he was elected as the President.
In a related development, her victory was challenged in the Sindh High Court by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-backed independent candidate Ghulam Mustafa Rind who named the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and Aseefa as respondents.
The petitioner backed by jailed former prime minister Imran Khan’s party claimed that he was not allowed to contest the polls and his nomination papers were wrongly rejected.
“I was told that I didn’t submit the electricity bill when our village doesn’t even have electricity. When I went to collect the bill, I was detained by the police,” the petitioner claimed.
Rind implored the court to overturn Aseefa’s unopposed victory and reinstate the democratic process.
Aseefa holds a bachelor’s degree in politics and sociology and a master’s in global health and development. She initially served as a goodwill ambassador for polio eradication in 2012 which made her face familiar among masses.
Her father, President Zardari, had announced plans to make Aseefa the first lady of the country.
She is one of the three siblings of former two-time premier Benazir who was assassinated during an election rally in 2007. Aseefa is quite popular with the PPP supporters due to her close resemblance with her mother.
