Lawyer serves defamation notice on ACB

A lawyer has issued a formal legal notice to the Abbottabad Cantonment Board (ACB) and its Vice President, Fawad Ali Jadoon, alleging a campaign of defamation against him on social media platforms.

He has demanded Rs50 million in damages each from the ACB and Fawad Ali Jadoon.

The dispute stems from a Facebook post reporting a Peshawar High Court (PHC) interim order restraining the ACB from collecting property tax from specific petitioners.

Advocate Barrister Hashim Iqbal Jadoon had filed the underlying petition in January 2024, challenging the ACB's authority to collect the tax.

The ACB's official Facebook account allegedly responded with a comment claiming that Advocate Jadoon had "submitted property tax on behalf of his close relatives in 2025," which he denies.

The notice accused the ACB and Fawad Ali Jadoon of publishing and circulating "false, malicious, and defamatory statements" intended to damage Advocate Jadoon's professional reputation.

The claim was allegedly amplified and attributed to Supreme Court Advocate Fida Bahadur, despite Advocate Bahadur's video not containing such an allegation. Advocate Jadoon argued that this proves the defamatory statement was a "conscious fabrication" by the CBA and Fawad Ali Jadoon.

The notice demands that within 14 days, the ACB and Fawad Ali Jadoon publicly retract all false statements, issue an unqualified apology on all platforms used to spread the defamatory material, and permanently remove all defamatory posts from both official and personal social media accounts.

Failure to comply within the stipulated timeframe, the notice states, will result in civil defamation proceedings being initiated against both recipients, seeking full damages, injunctive relief, legal costs, and other available remedies.