ISLAMABAD: Bushra Bibi, the wife of Pakistan’s ex-prime minister Imran Khan, was released from jail on Thursday, his party said, nine months after she was imprisoned alongside him in the runup to elections. In the days before the February polls, Bibi was convicted of graft and illegal marriage alongside opposition leader Khan in what he claimed was a campaign to sideline him from the vote.

“She was kept in jail to put pressure on Imran Khan,” the chairman of Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party Gohar Ali Khan told reporters. “I extend my heartfelt congratulations to all PTI supporters on the release of Bushra Bibi, and we offer our gratitude to God.” Following the election, the illegal marriage case collapsed on appeal and Bibi’s graft sentence was suspended.

She was bailed on another pending case on Wednesday, allowing her to walk free from Adiala Jail where Khan remains imprisoned. PTI chair Ali Khan said that after her release Bibi was headed home to the upscale Bani Gala neighborhood on the outskirts of the capital Islamabad.

A faith healer who has rarely been seen in public, Bibi wedded former playboy Khan shortly before he was elected in 2018 after becoming his spiritual guide. She was arrested on January 31 - one week before Pakistan went to the polls. The charges against her in the illegal marriage case sparked uproar both among PTI supporters and wider society. “The cases brought against her were not only false and unjust, but also petty and morally questionable,” PTI supporter Aqsa Qasim, who was waiting outside the residence, told AFP. “It’s been a long time since we received any good news, but today we are here to welcome the wife of our leader, who was unjustly imprisoned.”

Former cricket star Khan served as prime minister from 2018 to 2022, when he was ousted in a parliamentary no-confidence vote after falling out with the king-making military establishment.

The military establishment wields immense power to determine the course of ostensibly democratic politics in Pakistan, according to analysts. As opposition leader, 72-year-old Khan led an unprecedented campaign of defiance before becoming tangled in slews of court cases he claims have been orchestrated to prevent his return to power. Despite that, candidates loyal to PTI secured more seats than any other party in the February elections — which were marred by allegations of vote tampering. However, a broad coalition of parties considered more pliable to the influence of the military shut PTI out of government. — AFP