Court defers Shehbaz defamation case

A trial court on Tuesday deferred till March 22 the hearing of a defamation case filed by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif against former prime minister Imran Khan after the former could not attend the court proceedings due to his engagement with a foreign delegation.

Shehbaz had filed the suit for seeking Rs10 billion compensation from Imran for making the "false allegation" that he, Shehbaz, had indirectly offered him a bribe of Rs10 billion through a common friend to withdraw the Panama Papers' case.

The counsel for PM informed the judge that Shehbaz could not attend Tuesday proceedings due to an official engagement.