PML-N spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb has said that the media trial of party president Shehbaz Sharif was discussed at the PM House and alleged that Prime Minister Imran Khan and his aide Shahzad Akbar were the facilitators of the Daily Mail’s planted story, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.
Talking to media persons in Islamabad on Saturday, Marriyum Aurangzeb said PML-N President and Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif has challenged that he would quit politics if corruption of a single penny was proved against him; however, no proof of the allegations was presented in the London court.

The PML-N leader said Shehbaz Sharif filed a case against Daily Mail over the planted story and now the court has summoned all the evidence of the allegations levelled in the story.

Marriyum Aurangzeb also alleged that PM’s special assistant on accountability Shahzad Akbar harassed NAB detainees to get favourable statements from them. Imran Khan levelled allegations on others to hide his own misdeeds, she added.

It is to be mentioned here that a British court has ruled that the Daily Mail’s report was defamatory and ruled in favour of Shehbaz Sharif and son-in-law Ali Imran in a preliminary hearing. A more detailed hearing will follow, with the court declaring the Daily Mail article seriously damaging to the reputation of the two.

London High Court’s Justice Matthew Nicklin gave the initial ruling in a virtual hearing for the case between Daily Mail and Shehbaz Sharif. Justice Nicklin said that the words used in the David Rose authored article can be considered slanderous.

He further said that the article showed the highest form of defamation, declaring Shehbaz guilty of corruption on the basis of presumptions without any solid evidence to back up the claim.