January 23, 2008	Wednesday	Muharram 13, 1429

KARACHI, Jan 22: The late PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto’s defamation suit against an English-language newspaper was disposed of as abated by Justice Nadeem Azhar Siddiqui of the Sindh High Court on Tuesday.

The News International, Islamabad, carried a report on January 23, 1995, headlined ‘Britain rejects Pakistan’s demand to expel Altaf’. The report said that following an MQM demonstration against her in London, Pakistan prime minister Benazir Bhutto requested British foreign secretary Douglas Hurd to extradite the party’s leader, Altaf Hussain.

In a notice served on the paper, her counsel said Ms Bhutto was ‘a stateswoman of international status’ known for her commitment to democracy. She regarded holding of demonstrations as a right and was not ‘vindictive or narrow-minded’. The report was ‘a malicious attempt to tarnish her image’, it alleged.

The paper did not deny the report but said there was no intention to malign her. It expressed its regrets if the report created a wrong, unintended and unwarranted impression.

The PM had instituted a defamation suit in February seeking Rs10 million as damages. The publishers, editor and reporter were cited as defendants.

The suit came up for hearing on Tuesday and advocates Abdul Hafeez Lakho and Adnan Karim submitted that since the plaintiff had been assassinated, the suit be disposed of as having abated. An order was passed accordingly.