QWP lawmaker’s legal battle against PTI chief continues

 

Court extends stay order on appeal of Bakht Baidar

PESHAWAR: Though Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) has rejoined the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf(PTI)-led provincial government, the legal battle of its Member Provincial Assembly (MPA) BakhtBaidar Khan and PTI Chairman Imran Khan continues as the Peshawar High Courton Monday fixed May 3 for the next hearing into Rs1 billion defamation suit against the PTI chief.

A division bench comprising Justice IrshadQaiser and Justice Syed Afsar Shah extended the stay order in an appeal filed by QWP MPA BakhtBaidar up to May 3, in which the high court had stopped trial court from further proceedings in the MPA’s defamation suit against the PTI chief.

The QWP MPA had filed the appeal against the trial court’s decision, in which his application was dismissed, requesting the trial court to decide his defamation suit against Imran Khan on the basis of reply by defendant Imran Khan in the suit, instead of recording evidence.

Imran Khan’s lawyer Qazi Muhammad Anwar submitted before the bench that for the first time in the judicial history, an appellant (BakhtBaidar) who filed defamation suit for damages had got stayed the proceedings in his defamation suit from a high court. 

He submitted that one year had passed after the stay order and the trial court proceedings were stopped due to the stay order. He said the defendant (Imran Khan) wantedan early disposal of the suit. Qazi Anwar questioned as to how a defamation suit can be decided without evidence.

On April 7, the district and sessions judge, Peshawar had dismissed the application of QWP MPA, who wanted the court to decide his defamation suit against Imran Khan on the basis of replies.

The petitioner’s lawyer MaazullahBarkandi submitted that the PTI chief had admitted in his reply before the trial court that his statement about allegations of corruption against the petitioner in the media was true and was made publicly. The appellant requested the court to direct the trial court to decide the defamation suit on the basis of replies.

Chief Minister Pervez Khattakhad fired two QWP ministers,i.e. the then environment minister Ibrar Hussain and labour minister BakhtBaidar,on the directives of PTI Chairman Imran Khan on corruption charges.

Later,BakhtBaidar filed a defamation suit of Rs1 billion against the PTI chairman for removing him from the cabinet without any proof of the alleged corruption. The court directed Imran Khan to submit reply which he did.

The defamation suit filed by BakhtBaidar under Section 9 of the Defamation Ordinance 2002 reads, “The blended allegations levelled by the defendant (Imran Khan) against the plaintiff (BakthBaidar) are highly mischievous and farther from the truth. It has been, and is made, to harm the reputation of the plaintiff in the eyes of the public at large, and in the eyes of his party, colleagues, peers and family in particular.”

However, the QWP recently re-joined the PTI-led provincial government, but the party’s MPA wants to continue his legal battle to prove his innocence in the court as he claimed that the corruption allegations had badly damaged his political career.