Imran Khan Serves Rs 10bn Defamation Notice to Health Minister Over Spreading Misleading Information

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Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf Chairman Imran Khan has sent a defamation notice to health minister Abdul Qadir Patel for his controversial presser in which he said that traces of cocaine and alcohol were found in the ex Prime Minister’s urine sample.

Khan’s lawyer Abuzar Salman Khan Niazi sent the notice under the Defamation Ordinance, 2002 over “dissemination and circulation of wrongful, baseless, false, misleading, erroneous, malicious and defamatory information” against the PTI Chairman in his press conference on May 26. In his presser, Patel said that the medical reports of Imran Khan showed traces of cocaine and alcohol in his urine tests. He further said that Khan’s “mental health” is also “questionable.” The notice raised the question that “How alcohol and cocaine consumption can be traced through a urine test?”

“The report emphasises a lot on mental state of our client [Imran Khan]; however, no details of mental state examination have been provided,” it said. According to the notice, the minister made those remarks “knowingly, consciously, willingly, deliberately and maliciously which is highly irrational and negates the principles of ethics and morals”.

Furthermore, it said that those remarks are “also in violation of the standards and ethics which members of [the] Federal Cabinet must possess and display”. It stated, Mr. Patel was “responsible and liable for the defamatory circulation and dissemination” causing “a loss” to the PTI chief’s “goodwill, injury to his reputation and adversely affected his honour. Likewise, you have also caused emotional trauma, mental agony, anguish and distress to our client.”

Imran Khan has asked Abdul Qadir Patel to admit his mistake, retract his comments and tender an unconditional apology over the misleading statements. It also demanded “Rs 10 billion for defaming…and levelling false allegations” and that money would be “donated to Shaukat Khanam Memorial Cancer Hospital.”