Witchcraft, theft, corruption: It's mud-slinging time in Pak ahead of a no-confidence vote

Witchcraft, theft, corruption: It's mud-slinging time in Pakistan ahead of a no-confidence vote on PM Imran Khan

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan and his third wife, Bushra Bibi, also known as Bushra Riaz, are no strangers to controversies surrounding their personal lives.

But there's a new twist this time: charges of corruption and witchcraft.

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The Pakistan National Assembly convenes today for a crucial session, during which a no-confidence resolution against Prime Minister Imran Khan will be introduced.

And there's a new accusation that Bushra Bibi is attempting to save Imran's government through her witchcraft.

Shahbaz Sharif, Pakistan's Leader of the Opposition and frontrunner for Prime Minister, has stated that tonnes of meat are being burned for witchcraft in Imran Khan's Banigala home.

Shahbaz's remark was directed at Bushra Bibi, who calls herself a 'peer' and has been accused of performing witchcraft on numerous occasions.

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Shehbaz Sharif remarked in an interview with a private TV channel that the poor are starving and children crave milk, but that lots of chickens are being burned in Bani Gala for witchcraft.

Pakistan has been on edge since opposition parties filed a no-confidence resolution with the National Assembly Secretariat on March 8, stating that Prime Minister Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf government is to blame for the country's economic problems and spiralling inflation.

Imran Khan, Pakistan's prime minister, has stated he will not quit, despite calls from the opposition to do so ahead of a vote of no confidence in him, which will be his hardest test since taking power in 2018.

What is the order of the numbers?

Imran Khan's PTI has 155 members in the 342-member National Assembly, and it needs at least 172 to continue in power.

On March 27, Khan invited the entire country to the ruling party's power show at Islamabad's Parade Ground, inviting people to join him in "standing against evil."

Who is Bushra Bibi?

In 2018, Khan married Bushra Bibi in a low-key ceremony in Lahore.

Khan took office as Prime Minister six months after they married.

Bushra Bibi is a Pakistani faith healer who is said to possess unusual supernatural abilities.

In Pakistan, she is known as Pinky 'pirni' (holy woman) or Pinki Bibi.

Khan is said to have begun seeking "spiritual counsel" from the holy woman.

Unlike Khan's previous two ex-wives, Jemima Goldsmith and Reham Khan, Bushra Bibi has been a recluse who rarely makes public appearances.

(With inputs from agencies)