ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) Tuesday issued notice to Prime Minister Imran Khan in PML-N leader Khawaja Asif’s petition seeking right to cross-examine the prime minister in a defamation suit.
A single bench of Chief Justice Athar Minallah issued the notices, while hearing a petition of Khawaja Asif challenging the sessions court’s decision of not giving his counsel a right to present arguments in a defamation suit worth Rs10 billion filed by Prime Minister Imran Khan against him.
The IHC bench also stayed the ADSJ from conducting proceedings in this matter till the next hearing and deferred the proceedings till January 12.
Imran Khan had filed the defamation suit against Asif in 2012 for recovery of Rs10 billion as at a press conference, the latter had leveled allegations of misappropriation of funds and money laundering through the SKMT funds.
The prime minister had submitted an affidavit last month to Additional District and Sessions Judge Muhammad Adnan via video link against the PML-N leader for leveling allegations of non-transparency, money laundering and use of anonymous companies in the ShaukatKhanum Memorial Trust (SKMT) funds.
The prime minister stated in the document submitted in the court, that on August 1, 2012, Asif, while addressing a news conference held at the Punjab House, had alleged that Imran had indulged in money laundering or had approved the commission of the practice through the SKMT. Later on the same evening at a private TV programme, he repeated the allegations.
In his petition, the PML-N leader challenged the lower court’s verdict and cited PM Imran and the sessions court judge as respondents. Asif adopted that PM Imran’s statement was recorded by the additional district and sessions judge via video link in the absence of his lawyer.
He added that his counsel had informed the sessions court that he could not appear on December 17 due to ill-health but the ADSJ recorded the premier’s statement in the absence of his counsel and the sessions court announced the verdict in haste without referring to any law.
He prayed before the IHC to annul the decision of lower court of terminating his right to cross-examination.
During the hearing, Justice Minallah asked that since when the case has been pending.
Asif’s counsel replied that the defamation suit was filed in 2012 and questions were formulated in 2021, to which, the judge asked who was responsible for the delay when the court had ordered that defamation cases be disposed of quickly.
The bench asked the counsel: “are you saying that the delay was caused by Imran Khan? The case is being delayed since 2012 and it should have been decided in two months.”
The counsel responded that both parties had taken adjournments. He said the prime minister had not pursued the case initially and only started doing so later. He added that Asif was in the custody of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for six months — from December 2020 to June 2021 — when the issues were framed.
He added that during that time his client was not accessible to him and the ADSJ decided to proceed ex-parte on account of his absence.
He further said that the sessions judge’s order is illegal, unsustainable, and based on not reading the record and prayed before the court to declare the lower court’s order illegal and also suspend it.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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