LAHORE – Renowned social activist and UN Women Pakistan Goodwill Ambassadorlink>link>Muniba Mazarilink> has been sued by herex-husband for defamation, for one more time.
Khurram Shahzad, who was Mazari’s spouse from 2005 to 2015, has accusedMuniba of passing defamatory comments about him on social media andtelevision alike. Earlier he had also alleged that she has been visitingvarious embassies and the diplomats and involved in activities which wereunbecoming of an military officer wife due security point of view. That wasquoted as the top reason for the divorce of the duo.
He has now knocked the door of an Islamabad court which has served noticeon Pakistan’s ‘iron lady’ on Tuesday, seeking her response.
This is the second defamation notice filed by Shahzad as he had filed asimilar suit against his former spouse in November 2017; he had to withdrawit in January this year due to technical reasons as Shehzad failed to serveher with a legal notice in advance, contrary to legal injunctions.
In a fresh notice, he has sought that Muniba be permanently barred frommaking such statements, delete all earlier social media posts; render anunqualified apology, as well as pay general damages.
Muniba’s former husband has also requested the court to compel Pemra torestrain her from making such statements on television, and from the PTA toremove or block the controversial statements online.
Muniba and Shehzad were happily married till 2015 when the former filed fordivorce, for an issue that stemmed out of a road accident happened some 7years back.
In February 2008, the couple was driving from Quetta to Rahim Yar Khan whenthey met a tragic road accident which left Muniba paralysed from the waistdown.
Muniba had earlier claimed that Shahzad had slept on the steering wheelcausing the accident, a claim disputed by her former spouse.
“‘[Shahzad] falling asleep while driving’ is purely based on falsehood inorder to ridicule the plaintiff, as the truth is that the accident occurreddue to a donkey cart,” the petition says.
Shahzad contends he did not fall asleep at the wheel, but rather a donkeycart had suddenly appeared from the right side, following which he lostcontrol over the car.
To another claim of Muniba that Shehzad managed to jump out of the car, thepetitioner contends that ‘The statement is completely untrue as theplaintiff was inside the car while the accident took place’.
The former PAF pilot has also produced several tweets by Mazari in whichshe purportedly called him ‘greedy’, saying the lady has portrayed him “asa cruel, selfish, hardened, cheater and heartless person” to seek attentionand sympathy.
The ex-aviation official says that he requested Mazari to refrain frommaking statements against him through a mutual friend, however, the effortsremained fruitless.
In the first suit, Shehzad had demanded Rs10 million in damages, however,he has only sought legal fees as damages in a fresh notice.
The Islamabad sessions court has issued notices to Mazari and the tworegulators to respond to the complaint on June 1.
Moreover, a temporary relief has also been provided to Shehzad as Mazarihas been restrained from defaming the petitioner.