Khawaja Asif allowed to cross-examine Imran Khan in defamation case
- By Jahangir Aslam -
- Jan 20, 2022
ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has allowed Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) stalwart and former foreign minister Khawaja Asif to cross-examine Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan in the defamation case.
During the hearing, the IHC approved the appeal of Khawaja Asif seeking the right to cross-question the premier.
Previously, IHC had stopped the trial court from holding further proceedings in a defamation case filed by PM Imran Khan against Khawaja Asif.
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.
Read more: 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 Prime Minister Imran Khan in the absence of his counsel.