It wasn’t me: PHC seeks reply from sacked QWP minister

PTI chief argues Bakht Baidar was removed by the chief minister.

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Thursday directed former minister of Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) Bakht Baidar Khan to submit his reply to the petition filed by Imran Khan seeking to dismiss the billion-rupee defamation suit against the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman.

A two-member division bench of Justice Yahya Afridi and Justice Musarrat Hilali also directed the court of district and sessions judge not to issue the final verdict on the defamation case yet.

Bakht Baidar Khan filed the suit against the PTI chief in December last year claiming he was sacked for corruption without any proof.

Imran Khan has filed a petition at PHC through his counsel Advocate Qazi Muhammad Anwer, stating the former minister for labour could not prove PTI chief was responsible for his removal from the cabinet.

The petitioner further says he had filed an objection application in the lower court clarifying that Bakht Baidar Khan was removed by Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak, not the PTI chief.

Imran Khan’s counsel argued the rejection of their application on April 1 to dismiss the suit was wrong.

“Declaring the defamation suit maintainable by the lower court is not correct and some legal points were ignored. So the decision of the lower court should be declared null and void,” Anwer said.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 25^th, 2014.