Junaid Safdar serves legal notice to former diplomat Zafar Hilaly

• Maryam Nawaz's son Junaid Safdar sends notice to analyst Zafar Hilaly.
• Safdar seeks Rs500 million in damages and unconditional apology.
• However, Hilaly says he did not accuse Safdar of anything.

PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz's son Junaid Safdar has served political analyst and former diplomat Zafar Ali Hilaly a legal notice for allegedly claiming Safdar was arrested in London for having a fake degree.

The analyst, however, rejected reports of him accusing Safdar of having a fake degree, noting that he had nothing to do with the tweet "whatsoever".

In the legal notice served through Barrister Zafarullah Khan, Safdar has demanded Rs500 million in damages and an unconditional apology from the former diplomat over his alleged tweet.

The notice mentioned that Safdar wanted Hilaly to retract his defamatory tweet in the same "mode and manner in which it was published to the public at large".

Junaid's counsel mentioned that if the analyst does not apologise to his client, he will initiate legal proceedings — civil and criminal — against Hilaly.

The notice mentioned that Junaid has attained four degrees from abroad, including:

• BA Politics from the University of Durham
• MSc Global Governance and Ethics from University College London
• MSc International Relations from the London School of Economics and Political Science
• BA Law from University of Cambridge

The notice was issued in response to a tweet published by the account @ZafarHillaly. The tweet was later taken down.

It claimed that Safdar was arrested after he got a fake degree in London.

However, Hilaly's account is @zafarhilaly. The analyst rejected that he had anything to do with the tweet.

"I have just seen a tweet purporting to be from my account accusing Junaid Safdar of having acquired a fake degree from Oxford Univ[ersity]," he said.

"I have nothing whatsoever to do with this tweet and disclaim all responsibility. Besides, I have never tweeted in Urdu," Hilaly added.