PESHAWAR: Awami National Party chief Asfandyar Wali Khan has won Rs150 million in a defamation lawsuit against Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf leader and former provincial minister Shaukat Ali Yousafzai.

Additional district and session judge Ejazur Rehman Qazi announced an ex parte verdict in the case as Mr Yousafzai didn’t attend court proceedings.

Mr Asfandyar had sued the PTI leader through his counsel, including Tariq Afghan and Sajeed Afridi, for alleging in a presser on July 25, 2019, that the ANP chief had “sold Pashtuns for $25 million.”

Mr Yousafzai was the spokesman for the then PTI government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The counsel for Mr Asfandyar told the court that their client was the son of Pakhtun leader Khan Abdul Wali Khan and the grandson of Pakhtun leader Bacha Khan, both prominent leaders of international repute in the Independence Movement.

PTI leader had accused ANP chief of ‘selling Pashtuns for $25m’

They added that Mr Asfandyar had served as a member of the National Assembly four times and as a senator and a member of the KP Assembly once.

The lawyers insisted that the defendant made the defamatory accusation against their client intentionally to “adversely affect his reputation in the public mind and lower his status in public.”

In the five-page detailed judgement, the court declared that the parties were asked to list witnesses, which they did, and to produce evidence in the case.

It added that the plaintiff produced six witnesses and the defendant just one, but during the “course of the defendant’s evidence,” the defendant failed to attend the court, so he was proceeded against ex parte.

The court declared that the burden to prove the issue was on the defendant, but as he had been proceeded against ex parte, no evidence was available on record from him to prove his contention.

Regarding the issue of the plaintiff being entitled to the recovery of Rs100 million in damages and Rs50 million in aggravated damages, it noted that the burden to prove the matter was on the plaintiff, who produced six witnesses, including his attorney.

“The careful perusal of the record produced by witnesses revealed that the defendant made derogatory remarks during a news conference that were published by newspapers and failed to submit any explanation or justification for them.

He also failed to submit that his remarks during the news conference were not derogatory, i.e., slander and libel, but truth. Therefore, the issue was decided in favour of the plaintiff,“ it ruled.

The court also declared that the plaintiff successfully established the “cause of action and entitlement of decree,” so both issues were decided in his favour.

“In view of what has been discussed above, the lawsuit of the plaintiff is decreed in favour of the plaintiff as prayed,” it ruled in the verdict.

Published in Dawn, March 19th, 2024