Hanif Abbasi fined Rs5m for defaming SKMT board members

RAWALPINDI. Additional District and Sessions Judge Sahibzada Naqeeb Shahzad Tuesday fined PML-N leader Muhammad Hanif Abbasi Rs5,000,000 in a defamation suit filed by the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Trust.

The Trust had filed the suit on May 3, 2012. The Trust chief executive officer filed a suit of Rs100 million against Abbasi on behalf of board of governors.

According to the Trust spokesman, Hanif Abbasi in a TV programme stated that the Trust’s board members took salaries in millions of rupees from Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital. He alleged that the 19 board members were relatives of Imran Khan, while the fact is that none of the board members takes any money on any account and only three board members are relatives of Prime Minister Imran Khan, who is chairman of the board of governors.

The hospital had already clarified this through the national dailies while Imran Khan had also rejected these allegations in an exclusive press conference. The spokesman also said Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital was publicly known and acknowledged as a charity-driven institution, which treated thousands of cancer patients every year free-of-cost with the support of people.