LAHORE: A sessions court here Thursday allowed an application of Prime Minister Imran Khan in a defamation suit of Leader of Opposition in National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif against him and directed the counsel for Shehbaz Sharif to present the record of all cases pending against his client on February 10.

Imran Khan, instead of replying to a defamation suit of Shehbaz Sharif, had filed an application with a pray to the court to summon the details of the corruption references pending against the plaintiff first.

Additional District and Sessions Judge Yasir Hayat allowed the application directing the plaintiff’s counsel to furnish the record on next hearing.

The defamation suit stated that Imran Khan started uttering “false” and “malicious” statements against the plaintiff and claimed that Shehbaz Sharif offered Rs 10 billion to him through a common friend for withdrawing the case of Panama Papers pending before the Supreme Court.

Shehbaz had served a legal notice to Prime Minister Imran Khan asking him to tender an apology through print and electronic media within 14 days. However, he failed to make an apology and the plaintiff approached the court for recovery of “damages”.

The suit pleaded that the “baseless” and defamatory statements by the defendant were widely circulated by media lowered the integrity of the plaintiff and caused him extreme mental torture, agony and anxiety.

It urged the court to issue a decree in favour of the plaintiff for recovery of Rs10 billion as compensation for the publication of defamatory content.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021