OPC Punjab official sues PTI-UK leader for defamation

LONDON: The new Vice-Chairman of Overseas Pakistanis Commission (OPC) Punjab Makhdoom Tariq Mahmood-ul-Hassan has initiated a legal claim against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) East of England’s Senior Vice President Muhammad Saif Chaudhry for defaming him through a social media video post.

On 18 September – two days before Chief Minister Punjab notified Makhdoom Tariq as the OPC’s new Vice Chairman – an audio and video made by Saif Chaudhry started circulating through Whatsapp groups, making serious allegations of fraud and wrongdoing against Makhdoom Tariq.

Muhammad Saif Chaudhry made ten allegations of serious nature in the video including that Makhdoom Tariq is corrupt; he was expelled from the OPC due to corruption; demanded and offered bribes; orchestrated the defeat of a PTI candidate in the council elections in Pakistan; was a parachute in PTI who was abusing his role; and that Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar de-notified him once due to misconduct in public office.

Makhdoom Tariq Mahmood-ul-Hassan’s lawyers have maintained in the legal letter that all allegations and meanings are seriously defamatory to the new Vice-Chairman of the OPC. “There is no truth to the allegations you make whatsoever, and no other potential legal justification for their publication,” says the letter.