Defamation: Tareen files Rs30b suit against Shahbaz Sharif

Says Punjab CM falsely accused him of having bank loans written off

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Secretary General and Lodhran MNA Jahangir Khan Tareen filed a defamation suit of Rs30 billion on Thursday against Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif. Tareen accused the latter of making “false allegations” over the plaintiff’s loans.

In the petition, filed in a sessions court, the PTI leader refuted Shahbaz’s claim that Tareen had loans written off from banks and usurped public funds. The chief minister, according to the plaintiff, made these statements at a public gathering in Rajanpur on April 25.

Tareen says the Punjab chief minister repeated the allegations at a press conference on October 26. Video of both statements were submitted to the court. In response to the Shahbaz’s April statement, Tareen sent a legal notice to him on April 27, calling him to withdraw the “slanderous statement”, tender an apology, 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 that banks issued in Tareen’s favour and those mentioned in the legal notice.  Islamabad District and Sessions Judge Kamran Basharat Mufti will decide on Friday (today) if the petition is admissible.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 4^th, 2016.