ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) will resume next week hearing of a defamation case, filed by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif against PTI founder chairman Imran Khan.
A three-member SC bench, headed by Justice Muhammad Hashim Khan Kakar and comprising Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb, will resume hearing on March 31 in the review petition of Imran Khan against its order, upholding the Lahore High Court verdict, striking off his right to defence.
On the last hearing, the court had maintained its stay order earlier passed on February 21, restraining the trial court from proceeding against the petitioner in the defamation case and adjourned further hearing until April 7.
Barrister Ali Zafar, counsel for Imran Khan, had contended that under the law, the plaintiff, Shehbaz Sharif, should have filed a formal application to terminate the right to defence; however, no such application was filed.
The counsel had submitted that the trial court took suo motu notice and ended his client’s right to defence, although the law did not grant the trial court such authority.
Imran Khan, in his petition, filed in the SC, had prayed the court to suspend proceedings in the defamation case until a decision was made on his appeal, pending in the apex court.
He had contended that under the law only a district and sessions court had the authority to hear such defamation matters. Imran Khan had also challenged the jurisdiction of the additional sessions judge, whose decision was previously upheld by the Lahore High Court.
The PTI founder had asked the SC to nullify the orders issued by both the additional sessions judge and the Lahore High Court.
The SC three-member bench, by a 2-1 majority verdict comprising Justice Mansoor Ali Shah and Justice Aminuddin Khan, had dismissed the appeal of Imran Khan and upheld the verdict of high court striking off the right to defence of the petitioner.
Justice Ayesha A Malik, however, had dissented with the majority judgment holding that petitioner Imran Khan should be given the right to defence.
Imran Khan, later on, had filed a review petition in the Supreme Court.
In the year, 2017 Shehbaz Sharif had filed a defamation suit against then-opposition leader Imran Khan, accusing him of making defamatory statements that harmed his reputation and mental well-being.
The defamation suit had stemmed from Imran Khan’s allegations that Shehbaz Sharif offered him Rs10 billion through a common friend in exchange for withdrawing from the Panama Papers case, which was then pending before the Supreme Court.
Meanwhile, the SC also fixed for hearing a plea filed by journalist Matiullah Jan against Islamabad High Court’s refusal to suspend trial court proceedings in a case related to charges of drug recovery.
A three-member full bench, headed by Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, and comprising Justice Musarrat Hilali and Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan, will hear the case on April 1, 2026.
In his plea, Matiullah Jan prayed the apex court to issue directives to the high court to decide first the matter pending before it and in the meantime trial court proceedings should remain suspended.
Jan submitted before the court that the high court fixed April 21 as the next date of hearing of appeal that whether the accused could be charged of terrorism for the alleged scuffles with police, an incident which Matiullah Jan even otherwise described as concocted and fake.
Similarly, he submitted that the trial court fixed April 2 for further proceedings after prosecution withdrew charges of drug smuggling on the basis of a negative laboratory report of the drug sample allegedly recovered from the accused.
Now only the terrorism charges remain in the trial court, he added.
