No-show in court: SHC asks Imran Khan to pay Rs50,000 fine

MQM moved a defamation suit against Pakistan Tehreek Insaf and its leader in 2013

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) penalised Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan for not appearing before the court in connection with the hearing of a Rs5 billion defamation lawsuit moved by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) in 2013.

Imran was asked to pay a fine of Rs50,000 within a week and also asked his lawyers to file comments by or before the next date.

In July 2013, the MQM and its leader Farooq Sattar jointly sued PTI and Imran Khan after he alleged that MQM and its chief Altaf Hussain were responsible for the killing of Zahra Shahid, PTI’s senior vice-president in Sindh.

Zahra was shot dead by unidentified assailants outside her Defence residence on May 18, 2013 right after her party emerged as a key political stakeholder in the May 11 general election in Karachi.

The court was asked to direct the PTI chairperson to tender an unconditional apology to the MQM chief and other party leaders and pay Rs5 billion in damages for making defamatory remarks against the MQM.

On July 25, 2013 the SHC bench had issued notices to the PTI and its chief, asking them to file their replies to the allegations made in the suit and may also file documents, if any, to defend themselves.

As the defendant politician and his party continuously failed to respond, the court had later repeated its notices with the direction to file comments by February 28, 2014.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 17^th, 2015.