Defamation case adjourned against Pak PM

Agencies
December 20, 2018

Peshawar, Dec 20: A local court adjourned hearing into a defamation suit filed by former Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), MPA Fauzia Bibi against Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan due to his lawyer’s failure to turn up.

Additional district and sessions judge Shah Waliullah Hamid Hashmi fixed January 3 for the next hearing observing that the court will hear arguments about a request of Mr Imran to return the lawsuit for lacking jurisdiction to hear it, Dawn reported. 

The former MPA, who was elected on reserved seats for women on the PTI’s ticket, has filed the lawsuit for recovery of damages to the tune of Rs 500 million for defaming her through leveling ‘baseless’ allegations against her- of horse trading in the Senate election.

The suit was filed in June this year under the Defamation Ordinance, 2002. The only defendant in the lawsuit is Mr Imran as PTI chief.

Lawyer Habib Qureshi appeared before the court and said as Imran’s counsel Babar Awan was busy with some case hearings in the Supreme Court, he was not able to visit Peshawar to appear before the court in the case. He sought the adjournment of the hearing.

During a hearing, Mr Babar had filed the application under Order 7 Rule 10 of Code of Civil Procedure, saying the press conference in question addressed by his client was held in Islamabad and not in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

He had said the committee constituted for taking action against the plaintiff was also constituted there.

The lawyer added that as the cause of action arose there, therefore, it was not in the jurisdiction of the present court to deal with this case.

Syed Gufranullah Shah, lawyer representing the plaintiff, said the defendant’s counsel had been using delaying tactics.

He requested the court to dismiss the application filed on behalf of Mr Imran as the court had the jurisdiction to hear the lawsuit.

The lawyer said his client was member of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly and the statement of Mr Imran was related to her stint as member of the assembly. He stated that the allegations against the plaintiff were leveled in connection of Senate Elections for which she had cast vote at the KP Assembly.

He argued that the Defamation Ordinance 2002 was a special law and it had overriding effect over other laws. He added that under the said law the Peshawar district court was the relevant forum for hearing the defamation suit.

The lawyer said in the Senate polls held on Mar 3, his client had followed the direction with effect to cast vote in favour of all the candidates of her party nominated against general and reserved seats for women and technocrats.

In the lawsuit, the plaintiff claimed that after the Senate polls, Mr Imran began uttering, spreading and resorting to publication, communication and circulation of maliciously false, baseless and unfounded oral statements and representation against the plaintiff.

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Apr 26: The Chinese city of Wuhan, where the global coronavirus pandemic began, now has no remaining cases in its hospitals, a health official told reporters on Sunday.

"The latest news is that by April 26, the number of new coronavirus patients in Wuhan was at zero, thanks to the joint efforts of Wuhan and medical staff from around the country," National Health Commission spokesman Mi Feng said at a briefing.

The city had reported 46,452 cases, 56% of the national total. It saw 3,869 fatalities, or 84% of China's total.

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June 4,2020

London, Jun 4: Meghan, Britain's Duchess of Sussex, has spoken about events following the death of George Floyd saying she was sorry that children had to grow up in a world where racism still existed and that current events in the United States were "devastating".

"I know you know that black lives matter," Meghan said in a video she recorded for students graduating from her old high school in Los Angeles which was aired on Wednesday.

The death of Floyd has become the latest flashpoint for long-simmering rage over police brutality against African Americans and led to nationwide protests, some violent, with curfews imposed in some cities to quell the disorder.

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"First thing I want to say to you is that I'm sorry, I'm so sorry that you have to grow up in a world where this is still present," she said in her message to the girls at the Immaculate Heart High School.

The duchess, a former US actress and wife of Queen Elizabeth's grandson Prince Harry, said she wanted to say "the right thing" and was nervous her words would be "picked apart".

"The only wrong thing to say is to say nothing. Because George Floyd's life mattered, and Breonna Taylor's life mattered, and Philando Castile's life mattered and Tamir Rice's life mattered and so did so many other people whose names we know, and whose names we do not know," she said.

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"That's something you should have an understanding of, but an understanding of as a history lesson not as your reality. So I'm sorry that in a way we have not gotten the world to the place you deserve it to be."

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“If we can find a place for him, we will send him out.”

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