Fouzia withdraws lawsuit after Imran retracts horse trading allegation

Irshadullah Khan

PESHAWAR: In a U-turn, former Prime Minister Imran Khan has withdrawn his allegation against 20 MPAs, including party’s ex-reserved seat MPA from Chitral Fouzia Bibi, that they had sold their votes in the Senate election held in 2018.

Khan also requested the district and sessions court in Peshawar to drop the Rs500 million damages case against him which was filed by Fouzia Bibi.  

On Monday, a joint statement was filed on behalf of the plaintiff former Fouzia Bibi and Imran Khan in the court of the additional district judge in Peshawar. Fouzia Bibi’s lawyer Ghafran Shah and Imran Khan’s lawyer Kazi Muhammad Anwar appeared in the court.

In a written statement, the PTI chairman took the stand that the names of the 20 MPAs who allegedly sold their votes in the Senate election in 2018 were included in the fact-finding report, which also contained the name of Fouzia Bibi.

The report was compiled by former chief minister Pervez Khattak and the chairman of the disciplinary committee, Naeemul Haq.

“Haq has passed away while Khattak has left the PTI, so I don’t have any evidence to charge Fouzia Bibi,” said Imran Khan. He said he withdraws the charge of horse trading against Fouzia Bibi and also restores her party membership.

Fouzia Bibi then approached the court to withdraw the claim of damages against Imran Khan, on which the court disposed of the case.

When contacted, Fouzia Bibi told ChitralToday: “I was accused of selling votes in the 2018 Senate election after which I claimed damages against Imran Khan in June 2018 to prove my innocence.” She said she stood firm on her position for five years and got the reward. She said she was very happy now.

Fouzia Bibi said there was a meeting with Imran Khan in Lahore’s Zaman Park a few days ago in which Mr Khan said he was given wrong information.