ISLAMABAD: The Sup­reme Court on Friday stayed proceedings in a Rs10 billion defamation suit filed by Prime Mini­ster Shehbaz Sharif against PTI founder Imran Khan pending before a trial court in Lahore.

A three-judge SC bench, headed by Justice Ayesha A. Malik and comprising Justice Muhammad Has­him Khan Kakar and Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim, took up a set of review petitions filed by Imran Khan. The court also issued notice to the respondent (PM Shehbaz), as no one was present from the other side, and directed the office to fix the matter for early hearing.

The case was moved after the trial court of additional district judge had closed the right of defence — a decision that was also upheld by the Lahore High Court and later endorsed by the Supreme Court through its judgement of Feb 21, 2023.

Through its order dated Oct 20, 2022, the trial court had dismissed the objections of the petitioner (Imran Khan) seeking rejection of the interrogatories submitted by the respondent (Shehbaz Sharif) and directed him to submit answers to those interrogatories.

Later, through a subsequent order dated Nov 24, 2022, the trial court struck out the petitioner’s right of defence for failing to submit the answers.

Shehbaz Sharif, now the prime minister, had instituted the suit for recovery of damages against Imran Khan on July 7, 2017, alleging that the PTI founder had defamed him.

On Friday, Senator Barrister Syed Ali Zafar, representing Imran Khan, submitted that his client could not appear before the trial court as he had suffered a gunshot injury to his leg.

However, the trial court closed the right of defence despite acknowledging during the previous two hearings that the PTI founder had been injured. The trial court has now started recording evidence and testimonies of witnesses in the case, the counsel argued.

At this, Justice Malik wondered how the right of defence could be terminated after the trial court had itself acknowledged that the PTI founder was injured.

The Supreme Court then issued notice to the other party.

This is the same case in which the Supreme Court, through a majority judgement of two to one, had earlier observed that the conduct of the PTI founder was wilfully contumacious and disobedient throughout the trial court proceedings and held that the trial court had not committed any illegality or material irregularity in closing the right of defence.

The judgement, authored by Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, had also observed that the LHC had rightly declined to interfere in its revisional jurisdiction.

At that time, the Supreme Court was hearing an appeal filed by Imran Khan challenging the Dec 7, 2022 LHC order that had upheld the sessions court’s decision to close his right of defence for failing to respond within time in the defamation case.

Justice Ayesha Malik, who was also a member of the bench, had dissented from the majority judgement, observing that in a case plagued by adjournments since 2017, the court must strike a balance between the right to a fair trial and the legitimacy of the latest request for adjournment.

She had observed that the petitioner’s public shooting and injury at a political rally justified the grant of a reasonable adjournment under the circumstances. The right of defence, she noted, could not be struck out without considering all relevant factors, and the court must balance the right to a fair trial with the circumstances of the case.

On the other hand, Justice Shah had observed that the petitioner’s conduct disentitled him from any indulgence under the court’s discretionary jurisdiction under Article 185(3) of the Constitution and held that the appeal lacked merit.

Published in Dawn, February 21st, 2026