PESHAWAR: A local court on Monday directed the lawyer for Prime Minister Imran Khan to file a written reply to a defamation suit filed by former MPA Fauzia Bibi against his client over the allegation of horse-trading in the 2018 Senate elections.

Additional district and sessions judge Shah Waliullah Hamid Hashmi fixed Apr 6 for the next hearing into the case, warning that Imran Khan will lose the right of responding to the suit if the sought-after statement wasn’t filed.

Lawyer Habib Qureshi appeared for Mr Imran and said the lead counsel for the premier, Babar Awan, didn’t turn up due to some unavoidable commitments.

He sought time for the filing of Imran Khan’s written statement.

Court warns Imran will lose right to reply if statement not filed

Syed Gufranullah Shah, lawyer for the plaintiff, said despite getting the court’s repeated orders, the defendant hadn’t filed the written statement yet.

He said by not filing the sought-after reply to the suit, the defendant would lose the right to reply under Order VIII, Rule 10 of the Code of Civil Procedure (CPC).

The former MPA, who was elected on the PTI ticket on a seat reserved for women, has filed the lawsuit for the recovery of Rs500 million damages from Imran Khan on the charge of defaming her by falsely accusing her of selling vote in the Senate polls.

The suit was filed in June 2018 under the Defamation Ordinance, 2002.

The only defendant in it was PTI chief Imran Khan, who became the prime minister afterward.

In Jan, the court had rejected Imran Khan’s request to return the suit insisting that it doesn’t have the jurisdiction to hear the case.

The defendant had claimed that as his news conference took place in Islamabad and not Peshawar, the court in question couldn’t hear the suit.

However, the court ruled that it had jurisdiction to hear the case under the Defamation Ordinance, 2002.

The plaintiff claimed that she had followed the party’s direction to vote for its candidates named for the Senate’s general and women and technocrats seats.

She said after the Senate elections, Imran Khan began uttering, spreading, and resorting to publication, communication and circulation of maliciously false, baseless and unfounded oral statements and representation against her.

The plaintiff said the defendant had accused her of being involved in horse-trading in the Mar 3, 2018, Senate elections by the way of selling her vote for money, through electronic, print and social media.

Published in Dawn, March 26th, 2019