LAHORE: The Punjab government on Tuesday said that it would file a defamation case against a journalist in the Defamation Tribunal for maligning Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz through ‘fake news’.

Punjab Information Minister Azma Bokhari said that she, at the behest of CM Maryam, would file a defamation case in the recently-established Defamation Tribunal against reporter Ahmad Faraz for running ‘fake news’ about purported talk between CM Maryam and Hamza, the son of PM Shehbaz Sharif.

“In a social media programme with another journalist Azaz Syed, Ahmad Faraz presented a concocted story of a telephone call between Maryam and Hamza in the Teefi Butt matter. Now, this man (Faraz) will have to present proof of his claim in the court and also tell the name of the person(s) who provided him this fake information,” Ms Bokhari said.

Talking to Dawn, Ahmad Faraz said that he had talked about the merits of police encounters based on the information from his sources.

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“I have not committed defamation,” Mr Faraz said.

The prime suspect in the Ameer Balaj murder case, Khwaja Tareef alias Teefi Butt, was allegedly shot dead by the firing of his own accomplices during an encounter with the Crime Control Department (CCD) near the Sindh-Punjab border in Rahim Yar Khan district last month.

Published in Dawn, November 5th, 2025