Lahore, August 21 (TNS): Chairman Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chairman did not appear before the court hearing a Rs 10 billion defamation lawsuit filed by Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif against Imran Khan.
The court of Lahore additional sessions judge Azfar Sultan heard the case here on Monday and issued another notice to PTI chief as he failed to appear before the court which summoned him for Monday hearing.
Issuing the notice to Imran Khan, the court adjourned the hearing till September 9 and ordered PTI chief to submit his rejoinder in wake of defamation lawsuit.
Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif had filed a Rs10 billion defamation lawsuit against Imran Khan for alleging that he was offered a Rs10bn bribe by a close associate of the chief minister to drop the Panama Papers case against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
Filed in the court under sections 4 and 9 of the Defamation Ordinance 2002, the lawsuit states that the PTI chief had claimed in ARY News programme “Off the Record” on April 26 that the Rs10bn bribe offer was made to him through a person related to Shahbaz, on behalf of the chief minister and his family.
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 calling for an apology for allegedly defaming the chief minister within 14 days.
