Asad seeks public apology from JI chief

Serves legal notice to Jamaat-e-Islami chief Sirajul Haq for his claim that opposition party leader accumulated wealth in foreign banks.

ISLAMABAD     -   Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Sec­retary General Asad Umar on Tues­day served a legal notice to chief of Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Siraj-ul-Haq for his alleged “unfounded, defamatory and libelous” claim that the opposi­tion party leader has accumulated wealth in the foreign banks.

The PTI secretary general, in a notice of cause of action, pleaded that Siraj should better to tender an unquali­fied, unconditional, meaningful apol­ogy in a press conference addressed in the equal and similar manner as it was done at the time of levelling false allegations against him within a pe­riod of 14 days. Otherwise, the notice reads, “Our client shall be constrained to bring lawful actions against you in appropriate forums and manners both in the civil and criminal jurisdictions.”

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“My lawyers have sent legal notice to Siraj for making a false accusation that I have wealth abroad,” said Asad in a statement. Either he will publicly apologize or he will be taken to court, he added. He underlined that the JI chief should also publicly declare who provided him the false information.

The notice reads that while holding a press conference in the last week of February this year, Siraj gave the hint against Asad while saying “intention­ally and willfully that monies of few including our client are deposited and lying in the foreign banks.” “You also claimed that such people inclu­sive of our client is amongst those who have deposited 170 billion and according to you that too in his per­sonal account, therefore 18 people having bank accounts with the depos­it over 4000 billion (currency is not specified),” it added. “You also falsely claimed that our client is included in the people who have surprised you with how they earn their money and there is no etc. regarding it,” it said. The notice said that Asad had been a taxpayer since 1984-85, who worked for Exxon Chemical Pakistan from 1985 to 1989, ExxonMobil in Canada 1989-91, Hong-Kong Shanghai Bank from 1984 to 1985 and Engro Corpo­ration from 1991 to 2012.

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“When he returned to Pakistan in 1991, he brought every single dollar back to the motherland and since then he never had any account or any asset even worth one dollar outside Paki­stan,” the notice reads. Asad said that he would initiate multiple legal actions and proceedings against the JI chief in relevant courts under the laws of land for making this highly damaging statement and causing thereby agony, slander, loss of reputation and defa­mation. You are urged to “provide us the details, which you claimed in your defamatory press conference, of proof and particulars and details of banks where our client has deposited colos­sal moneys,” it says. Asad said that Siraj should post unqualified, uncon­ditional and meaningful apology on all types of media and party sites where the unfounded allegation reached.