Tareen files Rs30b defamation suit against Shahbaz

PTI lawmaker refutes Punjab CM’s claim of having written off loans, usurping public funds

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Jahangir Khan Tareen has filed a defamation suit of Rs30 billion against Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif for making “false allegations” regarding the lawmaker’s loan default.

In a petition filed to the court of Islamabad District and Sessions Judge (West), the PTI secretary general refuted the Punjab CM’s claim that the former had loans written off from banks and usurped public funds. Shahbaz, according to the plaintiff, made these statements at a public gathering in Rajanpur on April 25.

Tareen said the Punjab chief minister repeated the allegations in a press conference on October 26. Video clips of both the events were also submitted to the court.

In response to Shahbaz’s April statement, Tareen sent a legal notice to him on April 27 calling upon him to withdraw the “slanderous statement”, tender an apology to the plaintiff and publish a contradiction.



In reply to the legal notice, Shahbaz sent a reply through his counsel on May 7 in which, according to the petition, he demanded copies of letters the banks had issued in Tareen’s favour and which Tareen had mentioned in the legal notice. “The reply was an attempt to negate and undermine the settled legal principles so as to shift the burden of proof to the plaintiff,” the petition read.

“The statements constitute wrongful, tortuous and defamatory acts of the defendant which have injured the good reputation and high standing in society of the plaintiff,” the petition said.

The PTI lawmaker demanded Rs30 billion from Shahbaz in damages, as well as a permanent injunction from the court restraining the latter from directly or indirectly repeating the said allegations.

Islamabad D&SJ (West) Kamran Basharat Mufti will take up the petition on Friday to decide its admissibility. In the petition, the PTI leader has also claimed to be the only directly-elected member National Assembly in the list of top 100 income tax payers in the country. He said during the tax year 2011 and 2015, he paid Rs274,475,267 in personal income tax.