LONDON: A High Court judge in Britain has thrown out the allegations of PTI activists Adil Raja and Shayan Ali, and ordered Raja to pay £10,000 to the retired brigadier, an appellant in the case.
The judge dismissed Adil Raja’s application for a stay, for security of costs while granting a stay of the defamation case moved by a retired Pakistani brigadier against him.
Both Shayan Ali and Adil Raja tried to mislead the court and their lawyer Mahtab Aziz failed to convince the judge who said that he had no such evidence before him and was not convinced by ‘the wild claims made as a last-ditch effort’ to scuttle the proceedings, according to media reports.
Both Shayan Ali and Adil Raja were jointly represented by Central Law Chambers (where Mahtab Anwar Aziz works as a solicitor) which is owned by Ahmad Jawad, hailing from Mandi Bahauddin’s Gondal family.
Mahtab Anwar Aziz told to the British High Court that PTI’s UK activist Shayan Ali suffered from serious mental health problems, but their joint effort to malign the national institutions of Pakistan failed badly at the court.
Mahtab Anwar Aziz tried to argue that the defamation cases brought by the retired officer against Adil Raja and a case by PML-N leader Marriyum Aurangzeb against Shayan Ali lacked merit and were Strategic Lawsuits against Public Participation and should not be allowed to continue or be halted for a few months.
The lawyer further made completely false and ludicrous allegations of corruption, murder, terrorism, kidnappings, rigging, repression, torture, and censorship against Pakistan’s security institutions before the British Court but failed to back up his claims with evidence.
He tried to stop the case proceedings and made several false allegations against the Pakistani security institutions, hoping the British judge would be swayed by the accusations that were often highlighted in the Indian media.
The lawyer stressed that it was neither in the interest of, nor professionally advisable for any solicitor of England and Wales to take up a case on behalf of the retired officer of a Pakistani security institution. He said it was “unconscionable” for any solicitor to act for the retired brigadier, Marriyum Aurangzeb or any other officer but he showed no proof to support his false claims.
Adil Raja and Shayan Ali’s counsel further alleged that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) stopped the February 8 election results to conduct rigging.
British Court Rejects Allegations
The court rejected these accusations against state institutions for lack of evidence.
The counsel alleged that the government in Pakistan was behind these cases and the trial should be stayed but the court rejected his arguments as they lacked credibility and merit.
Mahtab Anwar Aziz told the court that Shayan Ali, who regularly demonstrated in London against the PML-N, was exercising his freedom of speech. He produced before the court a newspaper article in a pro-Indian publication published in February, in which false and baseless allegations were levelled against the Pakistan security institutions but the court rejected these arguments.
Shayan Ali and Adil Raja’s lawyer tried to falsely link Arshad Sharif’s murder with the Pakistani authorities but the court did not entertain his arguments and rejected them due to an absolute lack of evidence.
It is worth noting that the lawyer of YouTuber also did not respond to the queries sent by various journalists to seek his point of view with regard to the proceedings.
