LHC dismisses Imran Khan’s plea in Shehbaz Sharif defamation case

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Friday dismissed PTI chairman Imran Khan’s plea against terminating his right to defense in a defamation case filed by Prime minister Shehbaz Sharif, ARY News reported.

Four years back, PM Shahbaz Sharif filed an Rs10 billion defamation lawsuit against PTI chief Imran Khan for accusing him of offering a bribe to stay silent over the Panama Papers allegations against the Sharif family.

As per details, Justice Chaudhary Iqbal announced the verdict on PTI chief Imran Khan’s plea against terminating his right to defend in a 10 billion defamation suit.

A Session court had terminated the PTI chairman’s right to defense. The PTI chief challenged the verdict in Lahore high court but the court maintained the trial court verdict.

Earlier, the PTI chairman Imran Khan submitted a reply in a 10 billion defamation case filed by PM Shehbaz Sharif over the former’s remarks that he was offered a bribe to stop pursuing the Panama Papers case which later led to the disqualification of Nawaz Sharif, the three-time prime minister of the country.

He said that he was not directly offered money from Nawaz Sharif or Shahbaz Sharif. It was offered through someone else and a man named Omar Farooq conveyed that he could be given a huge sum of money after agreeing to stop pursuing the Panama Papers case.

It is pertinent to mention here that PM Shehbaz Sharif had served a legal notice through his counsel on the defendant on May 8, 2017, under Section 8 of the Defamation Ordinance, 2002 calling upon him to tender a proper apology within 14 days of the receipt of the notice.