SC halts lower court proceedings in Shehbaz-Imran defamation lawsuit

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) of Pakistan on Friday restrained a trial court from moving ahead with proceedings in the Rs 10 billion defamation and compensation suit filed by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan.

A three-member bench headed by Justice Ayesha Malik heard the matter and issued a notice to the prime minister, directing him to submit a response. The bench also ordered that the case be fixed for an early hearing.

During the proceedings, Justice Malik observed that no representative from the respondent’s side had appeared before the court. She further remarked that she had authored a dissenting note in the case, while two other judges had upheld the trial court’s earlier decision to strike off Imran Khan’s right to defence.

Appearing on behalf of Imran Khan, senior counsel Ali Zafar argued that his client had been unable to attend trial court hearings after sustaining a gunshot wound to his leg. He maintained that despite the injury being acknowledged on previous hearing dates, the trial court had proceeded to revoke his client’s right to defend himself in the damages claim.

The bench noted that the lower court had admitted the injury on at least two occasions prior to terminating the right of defence. Justice Malik questioned how such a right could be withdrawn after the injury had been formally recognised.

Following the hearing, the apex court suspended further trial court proceedings and served notices to the other party, setting the stage for a detailed examination of the matter at the next hearing.