PPP sends legal notice to Imran Khan for accusing Zardari of conspiring to kill him

Former president and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari on Monday sent a Rs10 billion legal notice to former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan.

In the notice, sent by Naek and Associates acting on behalf of their client Asif Ali Zardari, it was stated that Imran in a public address – which was widely reported across the world – had accused Zardari of “false, fabricated and scandalous remarks/statements as well as leveled baseless allegations of serious nature” that he had paid his corruption money to a terrorist organization being supported by powerful state agency facilitators to launch another fatal attack on him.

The notice read that the baseless accusations were of “malicious and defamatory nature” that tried to defame Zardari nationally as well as internationally.

“Through your defamatory, libelous, scandalous remarks and allegations of serious nature you have tried to create a link between our client and terrorist organizations blindly disregarding the fact that our client and his party has remained the victim of terrorism.”

Further, it said that Zardari’s wife, former prime minister Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto was also assassinated by terrorists.

“Furthermore in your statements you have stated that our client, through corruption money, is hatching a fresh plan to allegedly assassinate you despite the fact that our client has languished in prison for almost eight years in false, fabricated, trumped up and concocted cases including corruption cases and not one of which was proved against him and he was acquitted in all those cases honorably.”

The notice termed Imran’s statements as “made with malafide intentions and ulterior motives to injure, harm, defame and disparage the reputation and name of our client who has made struggle and sacrifices for the restoration of democracy in Pakistan.”

“Your baseless allegations against our client have also harmed the global reputation of Pakistan.”

The notice added that the serious allegations of paying terrorists and plotting his assassination were false, libelous, scandalous and without any proof and are vehemently denied.

Hence the same have been made with malafide intentions in order to defame our client for ulterior motives and other reasons best known to you to explain in this regard.

“That through your above said defamatory actions against our client, you have committed utterly unjustified and inexcusable defamation just to malign our client’s reputation in Pakistan as well as in the world causing severe agony, mental stress and loss of reputation,” the notice read.

It directed Imran to render an unconditional apology to Zardari “on television, print and social media, within 14 (fourteen) days from the receipt of this notice.”

Should Imran fail to do so, appropriate legal proceedings would be initiated against him including civil as well as criminal, before the competent courts of law in Pakistan and England.

A suit for damages for Rs10 billion would be liable to be paid.

The legal notice has been sent to the PTI chief who had accused Zardari of hiring hitmen to kill him.

In his public address last Friday, former premier Imran Khan accused PPP co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari of being a key player in hatching a new conspiracy for his assassination.

“Now they have made a Plan C, and Asif Zardari is behind this. He has loads of corruption money, which he loots from the Sindh government. He has given money to a terrorist outfit and people from powerful agencies are facilitating him,” Imran alleged.

“I am telling you this because if something happens to me, the nation should know the people behind this so they never forgive them.”