RAWALPINDI: The PTI leader Sayed Zulfikar Bukhari aka Zulfi Bukhari on Friday sent a Rs1 billion defamation notice to Rawalpindi Commissioner Syed Gulzar Hussain Shah over mentioning his name in Rawalpindi Ring Road Project scam.

In May, when the scam emerged, the Punjab government removed six mid-career officers including commissioner and deputy commissioner over their alleged involvement in bringing about changes in the Ring Road alignment.

The provincial government ordered an inquiry which confirmed that changes had been made to the actual plan of the Rawalpindi Ring Road to benefit some influential personalities including Zulfi Bukhari and Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan.

These changes had increased the cost of the project by Rs25 billion.

As the controversy deepened, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Overseas Pakistanis Sayed Zulfiqar Bukhari resigned from his position and Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan rejected the allegation and offered to quit politics if corruption charges against him proved.

On Friday, in a tweet, Zulfi Bukhari stated: “As promised, I will not stand and watch lies propagate. I’ve officially taken Commissioner Rawalpindi Syed Gulzar Hussain Shah to court for #RingRoadReport where he’ll have to prove:” Why he wrote in the report I ‘augmented’ influence without any proof”. “Let nation and courts hear reasons behind the allegation!”

He also shared the defamation notice issued by Zulfi’s lawyer Mustafa Aftab A. Sherpao, asking Gulzar Hussain Shah to submit his reply within 14 days; retract the statement attributed to Zulfi in the report; openly seek apology from him, and also issue a rebuttal of the statement attributed to the plaintiff.

The notice stated: “Defamatory statement made by you in the report against our client have defamed and traduced the reputation of our client. We, therefore, call upon you to forthwith and in any event within fourteen (14) days of the date of this legal notice: withdraw, recall and retract the said defamatory statement (and any other defamatory imputations) made by you in the report.”

Published in Dawn, July 10th, 2021