LAHORE: A sessions court on Wednesday reserved verdict on an application of singer Meesha Shafi seeking permission to get her and her husband’s cross-examination recorded through a video link from Canada in a defamation suit by actor-cum-singer Ali Zafar.

During the course of final arguments, Zafar’s counsel Umar Gill opposed the application of Shafi saying his client was ready to bear travelling expenses of the defendant and her husband. He said his client, if ordered, was also ready to deposit the expenses with the court.

He further said the ground of Covid-19 pandemic taken by Shafi for the video link arrangement was also contrary to facts as the situation across the world was not bad as it was earlier when the defendant returned to the country only to record songs.

On the other hand, Advocate Saqib Jillani, the counsel for Shafi, relied on a Lahore High Court judgement wherein a witness had been allowed to get his cross-examination on video link from Dubai. He said Dubai was only a few hours air travel away from Pakistan while it took at least 17 hours to travel from Canada.

He also referred to a last year’s decision by a predecessor judge hearing the same defamation suit whereby the witnesses of Shafi living abroad had been allowed to get their statements recorded through Skype etc.

He said his client and her husband could not travel at the same time as one of them was supposed to look after their children.

After hearing the arguments, Additional District & Sessions Judge Khan Muhammad reserved his verdict on the application of Shafi.

The judge also adjourned the hearing for further cross-examination of senior actor Saba Hameed, mother of Shafi, on Nov 19.

Published in Dawn, November 18th, 2021