LAHORE: A sessions court has issued bailable arrest warrants of Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Political Communication Shahbaz Gill in a criminal complaint of defamation against him filed by a Turkish company.

The case was fixed on Wednesday for arguments on different applications by the complainant and a petition for acquittal by Gill.

In his written order of the other day hearing, Additional District & Sessions Judge Hafiz Husnain Azhar Shah observes that the attendance of the respondent/accused Dr Shahbaz Gill has already been dispensed with and on his behalf his counsel is appearing.

“Today, file be kept in wait for the whole day will 03:30pm but his learned counsel has not turned up on his behalf regarding his attendance. So under these circumstances, accused is hereby summoned through bailable warrants of his arrest to the tune of Rs30,000 for Nov 1,” the order reads.

M/s Platform Turizm Tasimacilik, a subsidiary of Al-Bayrak Group of companies, filed the defamation complaint seeking action against the prime minister’s special assistant under section 499 and 500 of Pakistan Penal Code for leveling false allegations against it.

Islampura police had also registered a case on a complaint of Gill against the officials of the Turkish company pursuing the defamation proceedings against him.

However, the company’s officials Tahir Mobeen and two Turkish citizens-- Cemil Senocak and Yemen Yemenoglu --were acquitted in the case.

Published in Dawn, October 29th, 2021