LAHORE – The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Thursday dismissed an appeal of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan against striking out his right of defence in a Rs10 billion defamation suit filed by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif against him.
A three-member bench of the apex court headed by Justice Mansoor Ali Shah heard the appeal. Justice Amin-ud-Din Khan dismissed the appeal whereas Justice Ayesha A Malik dissented with the verdict.
Earlier, the Lahore High Court had also dismissed an appeal of the PTI chairman against the trial court verdict on 7th of this month.
During the proceedings, Mustafa Ramday appeared on behalf of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and argued that the trial court had lawfully struck the right of the petitioner to answer the interrogatories of the respondent (Shehbaz Sharif).
He said the trial court passed the orders after the petitioner (Imran Khan) failed to file the reply despite repeated opportunities. He further submitted that the trial court conducted 21 hearings from the direction of filing the reply to striking out the right of defence in the suit whereas 13 adjournments were taken instead of filing the reply on behalf of Imran Khan.
He submitted that the petitioner could have refused to give an answer to any question in his reply, adding that the final opportunity to file a reply was also deliberately missed.
However, Imran Khan’s counsel Barrister Ali Zafar submitted that the trial court unlawfully struck the right of his client. He submitted that the trial court exercised its suo motu powers to seize the right of the petitioner to file objections. He further submitted that out of 23 hearings, the counsel for Imran Khan sought adjournments on 10 different occasions whereas the opponent sought adjournments on seven occasions.
He pleaded with the court to set aside the verdict of the trial court.
The bench, after hearing detailed arguments of the parties, dismissed the appeal by a 2-1 majority and upheld the trial court verdict.
