Irshad Bhatti slapped with legal notice over Buzdar’s ‘second marriage’ claims

Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Sardar Usman Buzdar on Wednesday served a legal notice to journalist Irshad Bhatti for claiming that the former had “recently gotten married for the second time”.

Bhatti had on October 29 claimed that the provincial chief executive “had gotten married for the second time” and congratulated his colleagues while appearing on Geo News‘ programme “Report Card”.

“I congratulate all of you as Buzdar Sahib has gotten married for the second time… and on top of that, stories surrounding his new in-laws are amazing,” he had said.

“You have made certain assertations and touted them as facts which, I am instructed, are completely untrue and baseless, to say the least,” CM Buzdar’s lawyer, Advocate Obaid Ullah, stated in the notice served to Bhatti on Wednesday.

The notice further said that that the statements had damaged Buzdar’s reputation both personally and as a politician, and “lowered him in the estimation of others”.

“Personal relationships of my client with his family members, who are also respectable members of the society, have been soured and grossly undermined as a natural consequence of your defamatory utterances.”

Seeking an unequivocal apology within 14 days, Obaid also sought for CM Buzdar Rs250 million in damages. “…failing which, if a suit is filed, Rs500 million plus mark up shall be claimed, apart from the claim pertaining to entangling and grossly undermining the personal relationships of my client and his family.”