LAHORE: Defence lawyer Babar Awan on Saturday filed another plea in a defamation suit against Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan.
According to reports, Babar Awan appeared in court on the behalf of his client Imran Khan and requested to provide a record of cases against former Punjab chief minister Shehbaz Sharif.
It is pertinent to mention here that Shehbaz had filed a defamation suit against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan taking issue with his claim that the ruling government had offered him Rs10 million bribe if he remained silent on the Panama Papers issue.
Shehbaz Sharif had claimed Rs10 billion in damages from Khan under sections 4 and 9 of the Defamation Ordinance 2002 for allegedly lying and defaming his reputation.
The petition submitted through Advocate Mustafa Ramday stated, “Plaintiff belongs to a noble family and is a highly respectable individual, who enjoys an excellent reputation in both national and international circles, having a long and illustrious career in politics and public service to his credit. He is the incumbent chief minister of the province of Punjab and brother of the incumbent Prime Minister of Pakistan Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif.”
“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] to the effect that the Plaintiff had, through some person/relative, apparently known to the Defendant as well, offered to pay a sum of Rs100,000,000,000/- (Rupees Ten Billion) to the Defendant in exchange for his withdrawing/backing-off from, or remain silent on the issue of the Panama Papers’ case,” the petition said.
“It is, therefore, most respectfully prayed that a decree for recovery of Rs 10,000,000,000 (Rupees Ten Billion) as compensation for the publication of the aforesaid defamatory content be passed against the defendant (Imran Khan) and in favour of the plaintiff,” the petition added.