LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has filed a Rs 10 billion defamation lawsuit against Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan for alleging that he was offered a Rs 10 billion bribe by a close associate of the chief minister in return for dropping the Panama Papers case against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his family. Filed in the court of Lahore Additional Sessions Judge Azfar Sultan under sections 4 and 9 of the Defamation Ordinance 2002, the lawsuit states that Khan’s allegation “tended to lower the [Punjab chief minister] in the estimation of others and reduce him to ridicule, unjust criticism, dislike … and causing him extreme mental torture”, the suit states.
According to the lawsuit, the PTI chief had failed to tender a publicly broadcast apology even though he was served a legal notice in May. As a result of Khan’s ‘false and defamatory allegations’, Shahbaz is entitled to a compensation of Rs10 bn, it says.
The court has sought a response from Khan by July 21. Responding to the defamation suit, Imran Khan said that he does not own Rs 10 bn, and will ask Shahbaz Sharif’s sons Salman and Hamza for a loan since “all the children in Sharif family have somehow become billionaires”.
“Defamation suits are filed when someone’s reputation is tainted. How can your reputation be tainted when you do not have one?” Khan asked, repeating his accusations of corruption. “I am waiting for you to take me to court so I can tell the world who you really are,” he told his supporters in Nathia Gali.
Published in Daily Times, July 8th , 2017.
