Defamation case adjourned for third time after Imran Khan fails to show up

1
195

LAHORE: The defamation case filed by Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan was adjourned on Saturday, for the third time, as neither the PTI chief nor his lawyer appeared in court.

The hearing of the Rs 10 billion law suit has now been fixed for Sept 25.

The notice filed by Shehbaz Sharif, under sections 4 and 9 of the Defamation Ordinance, 2002, states that Imran Khan falsely accused him of making a financial offer to him for remaining silent over the Panama Papers case.

The petition states that “the facts and circumstances giving rise to the filing of the instant suit are that since the last week of April 2017, the Defendant [Imran Khan] started uttering, spreading and resorting to the publication, communication, and circulation of maliciously false, baseless and unfounded oral statements and representations against the Plaintiff [Shehbaz].”

Moreover, it states that Imran claimed Shehbaz “offered to pay a sum of Rs10,000,000,000 to the Defendant in exchange for his withdrawing/backing-off from, or remaining silent on the issue of the Panama Papers case.”

The suit also elaborates that Imran Khan made the “utterly false statement” on different television shows as well as at a public gathering.

On April 25, Khan, during a gathering at Shaukat Khanum Hospital, Lahore, had alleged that he had been offered Rs 10 billion for remaining silent over the Panama case issue.