Shoaib’s lawyer terms Tafazzul’s defamation notice as ‘invalid’

LAHORE: Former fast bowler Shaoib Akhtar’s lawyer Abuzar Salman Khan Niazi has replied to the legal defamation notice served on the pacer by Taffazul Rizvi, the lawyer of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), on April 29.

Shoaib’s lawyer has dismissed the legal notice of defamation by saying: “That, the notice under reply, for all the intents and purposes, is manifestly invalid in law, defective, faulty, vague and circumlocutory and is liable to be rejected as the same fails to fulfill the mandatory requirement of Section 8 of the Defamation Ordinance 2002.”

“A bare reading of the afore-stated section 8 makes it explicitly clear that no action in any form whatsoever under the ordinance can be initiated unless the mandatory requirement of specifying defamatory material in the notice under section 8 is satisfied,” the lawyer further responded.

Shoaib’s lawyer further stated: “That in view of the above you are urged to withdraw the Notice under Reply forthwith and tender an apology for defaming, humiliating and ridiculing my client vide the Notice under Reply.”

It may be mentioned that Shoaib, in a statement made on his YouTube channel, had criticised the performance of Taffazul and described him as incompetent. Reac­ting to the tirade, Taffazul sent a legal notice of defamation, asking Shoaib to withdraw his statement plus tender an apology otherwise he would sue him in for Rs 100 million.