Imran issues health minister a £10 billion defamation notice.
The leader of the PTI has called for a “unconditional” apology for the “emotional trauma” and “injury to reputation” that was caused.
After Federal Health Minister Abdul Qadir Patel said, “traces of alcohol and cocaine were found in the former premier’s urine analysis,” Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) head Imran Khan issued a defamation notice to Patel on Tuesday in ISLAMABAD.
The minister held a news conference on May 26 and a legal notice was sent under the Defamation Ordinance, 2002 for the “dissemination and circulation of wrongful, baseless, false, misleading, erroneous, malicious and defamatory information” about Imran.
It stated that during the press conference, the minister “dishonestly…alleged” that Imran’s medical tests indicated traces of alcohol and cocaine in his urine sample, and that the former prime minister’s “mental stability” was “questionable” in addition to “some appropriate gesture.”
That “alcohol and cocaine consumption can be traced through a urine test” was called into question in the notification.
Medical records “failed to mention” that Imran “incurred head injury on the day of his illegal arrest,” and “there are no details of a full trauma examination,” the report stated.
It read, “The report emphasises a lot on our client’s [Imran Khan’s] mental state, but no details of mental state examination have been provided.”
The health minister’s comments were “highly irrational and negates the principles of ethics and morals,” as stated in the notice. The statement continued by saying the remarks “also violate the standards and ethics which members of the [Federal] Cabinet must possess and display.”
It claimed Patel was “responsible and liable for the defamatory circulation and dissemination,” which resulted in “a loss” to the PTI chief’s “goodwill, injury to his reputation, and adversely affected his honour.”
The same may be said for our client’s mental and emotional well-being, which you have allegedly damaged.
The notice required Patel to “retract” his assertions in the same “mode and manner” in which they were made, as well as “tender an unconditional apology and admit” that he “misstated.”
In addition, it demanded that the minister pay “Rs 10 billion for defaming…and levelling false allegations” against Imran, with the promise that the funds would be donated to the Shaukat Khanam Memorial Cancer Hospital.
It concluded by telling Patel to “cease making any further defamatory comments.”
The warning stated that Imran would be “compelled to institute legal proceedings” within 15 days if the requests were not met.
