PHOTO: EXPRESS/FILE
PESHAWAR: A local court in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) on Sunday summoned Prime Minister Imran Khan for the second time in a defamation case filed by former lawmaker Fauzia Bibi over horse-trading allegations levelled by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief against her.
In June, Fauzia filed the Rs500 million lawsuit in response to allegations of ‘selling’ her vote during Senate elections held earlier this year. Maintaining that the PTI failed to submit evidence in this regard, the former MPA claims the party damaged her political career by insinuating horse-trading accusations.
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The district and sessions court sent the first notice to PM Imran’s Bani Gala residence on June 20. The second notice has been sent to the Prime Minister’s Secretariat and his residence.
While hearing the case today, Judge Shah Waliullah denied request of Fauzia’s attorney to publish the notice in newspapers keeping in view the prime minister had not responded to the first notice. The judge, however, issued directives to publish notice in newspapers and warned the case would be decided one-sidedly if the premier fails to submit reply by September 26.
PTI chairman issued notice in CM’s defamation suit
Fauzia, a lawmaker hailing from Chitral, had sent the defamation notice to the PTI chief, asking for evidence. Receiving no response on the notice, she then filed the lawsuit under Section-8 of the Defamation Ordinance 2002.
Separate lawsuits were filed by MPAs including Qurban Ali Khan, Yasin Khalil, Abdul Haq, Zahid Durrani, Arif Yousaf, and Abdul Mayar. They also demanded a public apology for the “baseless allegations”.
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