The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Friday stopped a trial court from continuing proceedings in a defamation case filed by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif against PTI founder Imran Khan.
The case was filed after Imran Khan alleged that Shehbaz Sharif had offered him Rs10 billion to withdraw the Panama Papers case. The allegation was made during a television programme aired on April 26, 2017.
PM Shehbaz has denied the claim, calling it false and defamatory. He stated that despite serving a legal notice in May 2017, Imran Khan did not issue a public apology. In the lawsuit, the prime minister sought Rs10 billion in damages over the alleged defamatory remarks.
A three-member bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Justice Ayesha Malik, issued the stay order while hearing a plea from the jailed former prime minister to stop the trial court proceedings. The apex court also issued a notice to PM Shehbaz, asking him to submit a response. The court indicated that the matter would be scheduled for an early hearing. Justice Malik observed that no representative appeared on behalf of the other side during the proceedings.
Before the stay order, the trial court had struck off Imran Khan’s right to defend himself in the case.
During a hearing held on May 17 last year, PM Shehbaz appeared before the court via video link and was cross-examined by Imran Khan’s lawyer. He repeated that the allegation of a Rs10 billion bribe was a serious act of defamation and said it had damaged his reputation significantly.
The prime minister told the court that he was not aware whether Imran Khan later denied the allegation in any television interview. Although his name was not directly mentioned in one particular conversation, he argued that the overall context clearly referred to him.
He further stated that even if no written material was circulated personally by the PTI founder, the televised remarks were enough to cause serious harm to his reputation.
