LAHORE – A petition was filed in Lahore High Court, seeking action against former Pakistani premier Imran Khan, senior PTI leader Dr Yasmin Rashid and others for allegedly running ‘malicious campaign against state institutions’.
Reports in local media said Advocate Mian Dawood on behalf of Akhtar Ali, filed the petition, maintaining that PTI chief Imran Khan and several PTI members are running a targeted campaign against state institutions including the judiciary, Election Commission, and armed forces.
Justice Mohammad Sajid Mehmood Sethi will take up the petition tomorrow in which the Punjab government, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra), Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), Punjab inspector general of police, Imran and Dr Rashid are respondents.
The petitioner maintained that the PTI chief and his political associates hurled unfounded, provocative, highly defamatory, and derogatory statements in public interviews, which according to him were aimed to harm the reputation of the institutions.
A clip of a former Punjab health minister in which she alleged armed forces officials to rig the upcoming by-elections was also made part of the petition.
The petitioner prayed before the court to order action against all people involved in the smear campaign and requested to formulate a system to stop such campaigns in the future.