IHC seeks PM Imran Khan's reply in Khawaja Asif defamation case

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday once again issued a notice to Prime Minister Imran Khan to submit comments on a petition by PML-N stalwart Khawaja Asif questioning the legality of the former’s statement in a defamation suit.

An IHC bench adjourned the case for two days with a direction for the respondents to file their response to the petition.

At the previous hearing, the court had restrained a sessions judge from proceeding with the defamation case till further orders.

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On Dec 17, the prime minister recorded his statement before Additional District and Sessions Judge (ADSJ) Mohammad Adnan through a video link in the defamation suit he had filed against Khawaja Asif in 2012 for levelling allegations about irregularities and money laundering through the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital (SKMCH) funds.

In his petition, the PML-N leader said the ADSJ deprived him of his right to cross-examination of the PM Imran Khan.

Also Read: Khawaja Asif defamation case: PM appears before court via video link

He said he filed multiple applications for increasing the number of defence witnesses but the judge didn’t decide these applications and instead unilaterally proceeded with the matter.

Asif said the ADSJ recorded the statement of PM Khan in the absence of his counsel.