Cynthia, Malik change mind on litigation

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan-based American blogger Cynthia D Ritchie and the PPP leader Senator Rehman Malik have filed petitions in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) to withdraw cases against each other.

Their counsel submitted the petitions to the court that will take up the matter today (Thursday). Last year, Cynthia D Ritchie accused Rehman Malik of raping her in 2011. She alleged that some key PPP figures were also involved in the crime. According to her, she kept quiet for long because of threats.

The blogger has thousands of followers on Twitter and her story remained top trend while she also went live on Facebook with the same blame. The PPP leader denied any wrongdoing, describing her claims as derogatory and slanderous remarks and approached the Federal Investigation Agency Cybercrime Wing against Ritchie’s smear campaign.

Rehman Malik too served a defamation notice to Ritchie who moved the court seeking registration of a rape case against Rehman Malik but her request was rejected after the police reported the blogger neither produced evidence nor material on record to show that she had been harassed.