Pindi commissioner fails to show up at hearing in defamation case filed by Bukhari

• Pindi commissioner was summoned by local court.
• Commissioner fails to show up at hearing on Monday.
• Zulfi Bukhari had filed a Rs1 billion defamation case against him.
• He had named Bukhari in the Rawalpindi Ring Road Project scam.

Rawalpindi Commissioner Syed Gulzar Hussain Shah on Monday failed to show up at the hearing of a defamation case filed against him by PTI leader Sayed Zulfikar Bukhari aka Zulfi Bukhari.

The PTI leader had filed a Rs1 billion defamation lawsuit against the commissioner for naming him in the Rawalpindi Ring Road Project scam.

A local Pindi court had summoned the commissioner in the case, but he did not show up.

Following the scam coming to light in May, the Punjab government removed six mid-career officers over their alleged involvement in the scam.

The Punjab government ordered an inquiry into the scam. It was alleged that changes had been made to the plan of the project to benefit Bukhari and Federal Minister for Aviation Ghulam Sarwar Khan.

As the matter got heated, Bukhari resigned from his post as the special assistant to the prime minister for overseas Pakistanis and human resource development on May 17.

More than Rs130 billion were made in property deals as part of the Rawalpindi Ring Road project since its conception in 2017, an initial inquiry into the scam found.