Former defence minister Ahsan Iqbal on Saturday issued a defamation notice to his competitor from NA-78 (Narowal), PTI's Abrarul Haq, for "false, disparaging, ill founded, baseless, malicious and frivolous statements and insinutations" made by him during a talk show 'Awam Ki Siyasat' on July 3.

According to the notice acquired by Arif Malik of DawnNewsTV, Abrar had alleged that Iqbal "approved only those development projects in which he could make some money, and award contracts to his favourites".

Failure to respond to the notice within 14 days of receipt could result in a lawsuit for recovery of Rs1 billion in damages, the notice said.