Court to expedite Shehbaz’s defamation suit against Imran

Published September 23, 2021
A combination photo of Prime Minister Imran Khan (L) and Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif (R). — Dawn/File
A combination photo of Prime Minister Imran Khan (L) and Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif (R). — Dawn/File

LAHORE: A sessions court on Wednesday resolved to expeditiously decide a long pending defamation suit by Leader of Opposition in National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif against Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Additional District and Sessions Judge Mudassar Farid Khokhar fixed Oct 6 for the appearance of the parties personally or through their counsel for further proceedings in the suit filed in 2017.

Earlier, the judge dismissed as infructuous a civil miscellaneous application of Shehbaz for closing the right of Khan to file his written statement on the pretext of an inordinate delay on part of the defendant.

However, the judge observed that since the defendant (Khan) had submitted his statement on July 27, 2021, the application stood infractuous.

The judge disposed of another application of the plaintiff seeking a day-to-day hearing in the suit as the Defamation Ordinance made it mandatory upon the courts to decide the case within 90 days.

The judge observed that the written statement had been filed by the defendant and now the case shall be proceeded further according to the provisions of Code of Civil Procedure 1908 and Qanoon-i-Shahadat Order 1984.

“As the defamation ordinance has also given the time frame for decision of suit, therefore, short dates shall be fixed to decide the case expeditiously,” wrote AD&SJ Khokhar in his order.

The judge already dismissed an application as withdrawn of Khan challenging the territorial jurisdiction of the court to hear the suit.

The defamation suit states that Khan started uttering false and malicious statements against the plaintiff (Shehbaz) that the latter offered Rs10 billion to the former through a common friend in exchange of withdrawing the case of Panama Papers pending before the Supreme Court.

It pleads that the baseless and defamatory statements by the defendant [widely circulated by media] lowered the integrity of the plaintiff and caused him extreme mental torture, agony and anxiety. The court has been requested to issue a decree for recovery of Rs 10bn as compensation for the publication of defamatory content in favour of the plaintiff.

In his written statement, Prime Minister Khan states that one of his friends told him that someone known to him and also the Sharif family approached him with an offer to pay billions of rupees if he could convince him (Khan) to stop pursuing the Panama case.

Khan says he disclosed the incident for the consumption of the public at large and in the interest of the public good does not constitute any defamation.

The statement maintains that Khan did not specifically attribute any statement to the plaintiff (Shehbaz) while narrating the incident.

Published in Dawn, September 23rd, 2021

Opinion

Editorial

Spread of hate
Updated 18 Jun, 2025

Spread of hate

HATE speech is not confined to words; in fact, there is a causal link between hateful rhetoric and real-world...
Big challenges
18 Jun, 2025

Big challenges

BALOCHISTAN’S Rs1.028tr budget, featuring a public development investment of Rs245bn and provincial surplus of...
Rampant disinformation
Updated 18 Jun, 2025

Rampant disinformation

WITH the arrival and proliferation of digital media, the creation of information is now a decentralised function,...
Window dressing
Updated 17 Jun, 2025

Window dressing

Meanwhile, the provinces lack the resources and expertise to implement adaptation measures effectively.
No revenue effort
17 Jun, 2025

No revenue effort

WITH the ruling PML-N’s next budget unfolding large infrastructure schemes, and expenditure focusing on service...
Pomp and circumstance
17 Jun, 2025

Pomp and circumstance

THE sight of columns of tanks rolling down a boulevard, accompanied by troops goose-stepping in lockstep, was a...