LAHORE: Former chief minister Usman Buzdar has served a legal notice worth Rs500 million on PTI dissident leader Awn Chaudhry for launching a “defamatory campaign” against him.

In the legal notice on behalf of Mr Buzdar, counsel Mubeenuddin Qazi stated that Awn Chaudhry was doing his client’s character assassination through public statements containing serious defamatory content and remarks for ulterior motives.

The notice stated that the defamatory content was also broadcast widely on electronic and social media.

Mr Buzdar’s counsel demanded that Awn Chaudhry should tender and get published unconditional apology in print and electronic media, especially all the television channels and daily newspapers, along with an undertaking that such acts would not be repeated, within 15 working days.

The legal notice which presents Mr Buzdar as the Punjab chief minister states that Awn Chaudhry has given interviews in media and made public statements.

“You are abusing your current official position as Advisor to the Prime Minister of Pakistan to assassinate my client’s character and victimize him,” the notice stated.

In the recent mala fide, baseless and unwarranted public statement made in the talk show of a private news channel, the legal notice said, Awan Chaudhry levelled serious allegations of committing corruption during his term as the Punjab chief minister and that too without substantiating such false and baseless allegations with any corroborative evidence.

The notice said the false statements of grave nature had also appeared in almost all the leading television channels as well as published in almost all the leading English and Urdu daily newspapers.

In case Awn Chaudhry fails to comply with the notice within 15 days, the legal notice said Mr Buzdar would be at liberty to initiate appropriate legal proceedings for committing the offence of criminal defamation, besides other available legal remedies including proceedings under the Protection of Electronic Crimes Act 2016.

Published in Dawn, May 23rd, 2022