LAHORE: A sessions court on Thursday sought arguments from the lawyers of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chairman Imran Khan and PML-N president Shahbaz Sharif on the point of the territorial jurisdiction of the court to hear a Rs10 billion damages suit filed by the latter against the former.

Advocate Babar Awan, main counsel for Khan, did not appear before the court due to his engagement in Islamabad. His associate Advocate Sajid Munawar Qureshi in his arguments questioned the jurisdiction of the court to hear the suit on territorial grounds.

He said the press conference of the PTI chief, assailed by the plaintiff was held in Islamabad and a court of Lahore lacked jurisdiction to hear the case.

Additional District and Sessions Judge Anjum Mumtaz adjourned hearing till Sept 1 and directed the counsel from both sides to come up with detailed arguments on the jurisdiction of the court.

In the suit, former chief minister Shahbaz Sharif said that Mr Khan at a press conference levelled baseless allegation on him of offering the latter Rs10bn through a common friend for withdrawing case of Panama Papers before the Supreme Court.

He sought a decree for recovery of Rs10bn as compensation from the PTI’s chief for publication of defamatory content.

Published in Dawn, August 17th, 2018