LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) dismissed a petition of former Prime Minister Imran Khan challenging seizing of his right to reply to objections raised in the defamation suit filed by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

A sessions’ court, proceeding with the Rs 10 billion defamation suit by Shehbaz, had closed the right of Imran Khan to respond after he failed to reply to the objectors/issues presented by the plaintiff in time. Shehbaz had sought closing the right of Imran Khan to file his written statement on the pretext of an inordinate delay on the part of defendant by seeking unnecessary adjournments.

Imran Khan challenged the decision of the lower court before the LHC. The court, however, upheld the decision of the trial court and dismissed the petition of Imran Khan.

The defamation suit filed in 2017 stated that Imran Khan started uttering false and malicious statements against the plaintiff Shehbaz that the latter offered Rs 10 billion to him through a common friend in exchange of withdrawing the case of Panama Papers pending before the Supreme Court.

The plaintiff Shehbaz Sharif requested the court to issue a decree for recovery of Rs 10bn as compensation for the publication of defamatory content against him.

Former Prime Minister Khan filed his reply to the suit with a delay of four years in 2021. Imran Khan said he had disclosed the incident for consumption of public at large and the same does not constitute any defamation.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022