ISLAMABAD: Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has asked Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairperson Imran Khan, asking him to apologize over his accusation of being offered Rs10 billion on staying silent about the Panama case.
Under Section 8 of the Defamation Ordinance, 2002, Shahbaz through Advocate Khawaja Muhammad Harris served the notice to Imran.
“Since the last week of April 2017, you [Imran] have been uttering/spreading and resorting to the publication and circulation, directly and/or by way of innuendos, maliciously false, baseless and unfounded statements and representations against my client to the effect that he had offered you a sum of Rs10 billion in lieu of your withdrawing/backing off from the Panama case” the notice read.
The notice added that “apart from causing irreparable damage to Shahbaz’s reputation, this [defamation by Imran] has caused him severe mental agony, pain and torture.”
Further, if within 14 days of receipt of the legal notice, Imran doesn’t tender a proper apology to Shahbaz “Get the same published through print and electronic media in the same manner and with the same prominence as the publication of the defamatory statement and representation,” legal action will be taken against him for recovery of a sum of Rs10 billion as damages under the ordinance on account of defamation committed by Imran.
In the events following the Panama case, Imran while addressing a crowd had alleged that a mutual acquaintance of his and Shahbaz Sharif’s offered him the exorbitant sum on the condition that he drop the case against the Sharif family.
Despite stirring up a hornet’s nest, Khan has yet to reveal the identity of the individual who offered the bribe, although he insisted that the person lives in Lahore and that he would reveal his identity in court.
