A sessions court in Lahore on Wednesday issued an arrest warrant for former cricketer Sarfraz Nawaz after he repeatedly failed to appear before the court during the hearing of a defamation suit filed by Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Najam Sethi.

Sessions judge Anjum Mumtaz Malik was hearing the case following Sethi's complaint in which he had alleged that Sarfraz "levelled false and baseless charges against him due to which his popularity suffered a decline".

According to Sethi, he had "not for a single day used his position for wrongful purposes".

The PCB chairman had requested the court to order the accused to pay damages worth Rs100 million.

Sarfraz was asked to appear before the court several times before but he failed to do so. Therefore, for not following the court's orders, an arrest warrant was issued against the accused.

The court on Wednesday ordered Sarfraz to appear before it at all costs and adjourned the hearing for two weeks.

In February last year, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) had warned both print and electronic media not to give space to the former Test fast bowler, underlining any move to do so maybe tantamount to a contempt of court.

“Regrettably, even after the injunctive order Sarfraz Nawaz is continuing with his vitriol campaign and is levelling false allegations for which contempt of court proceedings have also been initiated. It is astonishing that despite the injunctive order, TV channels are providing airtime to Sarfraz which is tantamount to contempt of court,” a press release issued by the PCB had said.

“In a Suit No.32/ 5-6-15 Najam Aziz Sethi vs Sarfraz Nawaz for damages of 100 million under defamatory ordinance 2002 is pending before the District Court, Lahore for the slanderous, false, malicious, defamatory and concocted statements/allegations levelled by Sarfraz Nawaz against Mr Najam Sethi,” the PCB had stated.