Special Assistant to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on aviation Capt. Shujaat Azeem has served defamation notice on president of a private TV channel and host of its flagship programme "Khara Such" for airing series of orchestrated programmes based on malice and barefaced lies.
In his notice dated February the 25th 2015, served through Babar Sattar, under section-8 of the Defamation Ordinance 2002, Capt. Azeem has asked the channel and its anchor to withdraw the defamatory statements publically and issue a public, unqualified apology within 14 days or face court action for both to pay damages of Rs 500 million each. In detailed answers to all baseless allegations raised in the programmes.
Capt. Azeem refutes all the baseless allegations levelled against him. In programmes broadcast on 5th and 20th Feb, this year it was wrongly alleged that Capt Azeem had sold PIA's functional aircraft to a company of his daughter. Had Mr. Luqman bothered to check, he would have found that his only daughter is a 16-year-old school-going child. Further, it's a matter of record that PIA has not sold any airplanes and Capt. Azeem has no legal authority to dispose of planes, since PIA is run by a full-time Chairman and a board.
In a programme that anchor made yet another spurious and outrageous claim that Capt. Azeem was amongst three to four persons who might have given information regarding the movements of Prime Minister Hariri of Lebanon, which led to his assassination.
In a deliberate effort to defame Capt. Azeem, that anchor had insinuated in his programme that Capt. Azeem had willed an accident to happen and was therefore disappointed that Prime Minister of Pakistan had escaped an accident while landing at Islamabad airport on December the 8th, 2014.
Replying to another charge that Capt. Azeem was expelled from PAF, the notice said that charges were related to indiscipline and being late on duty. He was never charged with any crime, felony or lapse in moral character during his service to the Air Force.
Capt. Azeem has been in service of Pakistan since his appointment as special assistant to the Prime Minister on an honorary basis and has worked with integrity and diligence to reform the aviation sector, his own company (RAS) were set-up 10 years ago when PM Nawaz Sharif was in forced exile. He had resigned his position as CEO of RAS on 8th of February 2013, long before the May General Elections. In fact, his company had informed PIA that, following his appointment, they would no longer engage in any business with PIA. This was acknowledged by PIA wide their letter dated 13 June, 2013. Thus Capt. Azeem ensured that there was no conflict of interest, what so ever.
The allegations in the programmes hosted were nothing but malicious rumours levelled with the sole objective of exposing Capt. Azeem to hatred, contempt, and ridicule, impeach his professional conduct, credibility and integrity and blemish his image in and outside the country.-PR
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