Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry said on Thursday that the government was going to file a defamation suit against Justice (r) Wajihuddin Ahmed for lying that Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) leader Jahangir Khan Tareen had paid the expenses incurred on Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Bani Gala residence, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

Addressing a press conference in Islamabad, Fawad said, “Even Tareen has now come up with a denial of Wajih’s statement. Now there should be an end to the character assassination of people, the minister added.

Calling Wajih a ‘joker’ again, the information minister said he saluted Jahangir Tareen for telling the nation the truth and thus setting the record straight.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OYMFVGWYew

He regretted that what to speak of an ordinary person, here in Pakistan even the prime minister was not safe from defamation. 

He recalled that one political expert had said on a TV channel that the prime minister had divorced his wife Bushra Bibi, which eventually turned out to be a ‘lie’. 

Fawad said that was why the government had floated the idea of the Pakistan Media Development Authority bill so that there should be limits to the right to freedom of expression.

Referring to Justice (r) Wajih, he deplored that it was a pity that a man whom the prime minister had favoured had lied that somebody else was meeting the expenses of his residence. “Character assassination of politicians, judges, army generals and others has become a routine now,” Fawad said, adding the same could not be tolerated in the West where these very TV channels were fined for their indulgence in such practices. 

The minister said those TV channels who aired Wajih’s statement will also be sent notices soon.