ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Secretary General Asad Umar has served notice on Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) chief Sirajul Haq for claiming that wealth of some people, including Asad Umar, was stashed in banks out of Pakistan.

In the notice of cause of action, Mr Umar pleaded that the JI chief should tender an unqualified, unconditional, meaningful apology at a press conference addressed in the equal and similar manner as it was done at the time of levelling the allegation, within a period of 14 days.

Otherwise, the notice stated: “Our client shall be constrained to bring lawful actions against you in appropriate forums and manners both in the civil and criminal jurisdictions.

“My lawyers have sent legal notice to Siraj for making a false accusation that I have wealth abroad. Either he will publicly apologise or he will be taken to court,” the PTI leader said.

He said Sirajul Haq should also publicly declare who provided him the false information.

“You also claimed that such people inclusive of our client is amongst those who have deposited 170 billion and according to you that too in his personal account, therefore 18 people having accounts with the deposit over 4000 billion (currency is not specified),” the legal notice stated.

“You also claimed falsely said that our client is included in the people who have surprised you how they earn their moneys and there is no etc. regarding it,” it said, adding: “The money which you have claimed attaching with the name of our client in highly scandalous manner while saying is ill-gotten.”

However, it was said Mr Umar had been a taxpayer since 1984-85, who worked for Exxon Chemical Pakistan from 1985 to 1989, Exxon Mobil in Canada 1989-91, Hong-Kong Shanghai Bank from 1984 to 1985 and Engro Corporation from 1991 to 2012.

“When he returned to Pakistan in 1991, he brought every single dollar back to the motherland and since then he never had any account or any asset even worth one dollar outside Pakistan,” the notice reads.

Published in Dawn, May 3rd, 2023