In response to Iftikhar Chaudhry’s defamation notice, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chairman Imran Khan denied using ‘scandalous language’ against the judiciary and requested the former Chief Justice of Pakistan to reconsider filing the damage suit against him.
In his eight-page response, which was filed through two of his senior lawyers Hamid Khan and Ahmad Awais on August 2 but emerged on Monday, the PTI chief said it would not be appropriate for a former CJP to enter into a personal litigation.
One member of PTI’s legal team told The Express Tribune that this was a soft reply given on behalf of Imran because party lawyers do not want to open so many fronts at this time. He also claimed that it had been agreed earlier between Imran’s lawyers and former CJ that a defamation suit would not be filed in court.
Meanwhile, Taufiq Asif, a counsel for the former CJ, said their legal team would hold a meeting very soon to discuss whether the defamation suit should be filed or not. He, however, lamented that though Imran’s reply is soft, he has targeted their client in a recent speech.
The PTI chief went on to appreciate the former chief justice’s directions, judgments and observations regarding fair and free elections – however, his judgments, he pointed out, have not been implemented.
The reply also advised that Iftikhar Chaudhry should have avoided addressing returning officers (ROs) and district returning officers (DROs) before elections, adding that the judiciary should have stayed away from the election process to maintain neutrality.
Earlier, the former CJ had sent a defamation notice worth Rs20 billion to Imran under Section 8 of the Defamation Ordinance, 2002. He would withdraw his claim if the PTI chief tendered an unconditional apology or agreed to pay the Rs20 billion within 14 days, he had said.
In the notice, Chaudhry said Imran had defamed him as well as the judiciary by accusing him of rigging practices in the general elections.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 26th, 2014.
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