Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan received judicial notice in defamation case by Shahbaz Sharif
Islamabad:
Pakistani court sent notice to Prime Minister Imran Khan in defamation case filed by PML-N chief Shahbaz Sharif requesting speedy hearing of trial against Pakistani President Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) outstanding for three years.
Imran Khan, in April 2017, alleged that Shahbaz Sharif offered him $ 61 million through a “mutual friend” to withdraw the Panama Papers case before the Supreme Court against the 70-year-old former prime minister and his older brother Nawaz Sharif.
Nawaz Sharif, currently in London for treatment, is the leader of the Pakistan-Nawaz Muslim League (PML-N). He was disqualified as Prime Minister in 2017 by the Supreme Court in the Panama Papers case.
Three corruption cases – Avenfield properties, flagship investment and Al-Azizia steelworks – were registered against the Sharif family by the anti-corruption organization in 2017 following a judgment of the Supreme Court that disqualified it.
However, Imran Khan did not name the person who allegedly offered him $ 61 million on behalf of National Assembly opposition leader Shahbaz Sharif.
The Lahore District and Extraordinary Court on Friday considered Shahbaz Sharif’s request for an early hearing on June 10, in which it argued that Imran Khan had not filed a written response in the past three years, resulting in no substantial proceedings in the case.
“In total, 60 hearings in this case, counsel for Imran Khan requested adjournment 33 times. At the last hearing, the court learned that Imran Khan’s main counsel, Babar Awan, could not not travel from Islamabad to Lahore due to COVID-19 and the court adjourned the hearing on June 22, “a lawyer for Shahbaz Sharif told court.
Under the law, he said that Babr Awan could not appear in court to defend Imran Khan since he became his adviser.
In his petition, Shahbaz Sharif asked the court to issue a recovery decree of USD 61 million as compensation for the publication of defamatory content in his favor to seriously damage his reputation with the public.
After hearing the arguments, district and extra-sessional judge Sohail Anjum sent a notice to Imran Khan by June 10 to submit a written response.
Speaking to the media after the court sent an opinion to Imran Khan, PML-N spokesman Marriyum Auranzeb said: “Imran Khan will no longer be eligible for articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution if he does not submits no response in the defamation case of 10 billion rupees – I challenge Imran Khan to answer in court about his allegation of 10 billion rupees in hidden money that Shehbaz Sharif offered him.
She said that if June 10 Imran Khan did not submit a response to the court, he would be “officially stamped” as a “liar” and would no longer be morally eligible to hold the office of member of the National Assembly and the Prime Minister. from Pakistan.
“Does a liar, incompetent and unqualified deserve to be the head of the Pakistani nation,” she asked.
Marriyum Auranzeb also said that Imran Khan has been an accomplice in the case for the past three years and has delayed proceedings 33 times.
“Likewise, in the past six years, he has ignored the foreign funding affair and in the past two years in the 23 secret accounts affair,” she said.
(With the exception of the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
