ISLAMABAD March 21 (ABC): Pakistan army’s retired major Adil Raja is in big trouble in the United Kingdom where he has been reportedly slapped with two defamation cases for lying and fake news propagation at the England High Court.
Two separate cases of defamation have been launched against YouTuber Adil Farooq Raja by a serving senior Pakistan Army officer and Pakistan Muslim League UK leader, Nasir Butt.
Both have sued Adil Raja, who left Pakistan last year after his alleged corruption was caught in DHA scandal, for running defamatory campaigns against them through YouTube and Twitter.
Adil Raja has been accuse of lying that the senior Punjab military officer was involved in election rigging against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI), doing horse-trading on behalf of General (r) Qamar Javed Bajwa and holding secret meetings with Asif Ali Zardari to manipulate Punjab by-elections.
Nasir Butt has sued Adil Raja for making false allegations against him linking him with the murder conspiracy of journalist Arshad Sharif and attack on Imran Khan near Gujrat.
According to evidence presented in court, Major (r) Adil Raja started his campaign against the military officer on 14 June, 2022, when he alleged in a tweet that the officer “has taken complete occupation of the Lahore High Court ” to rig the upcoming elections.
The ‘evidence’ shows that the army officer filed case at the court through his UK lawyers on August 11, 2022, after the retired major made several accusations against the senior military officer in tweets and videos that went viral, gaining thousands of retweets, likes and views in tens of thousands.
“Adil Raja conducted a determined and prolific social media campaign against the Claimant publishing very many Tweets and videos, many of which are seriously defamatory of the Claimant, and all of which, by reason of their content, tone and frequency, have caused the Claimant serious harm,” the petition read.
In further tweets, Adil Raja accused Pakistan military of being involved in politics and doing “horse-trading for General Bajwa; registering fake cases against him in Punjab; and being an agent of the regime change plan”.
In his defamation claim, the senior military officer has denied each and every allegation against him as false and told the court that he had suffered serious harm to his reputation and is likely to suffer further serious harm in the future. The claimant has challenged each and every broadcast by Adil Raja – based on undisclosed sources and ‘silent warriors’ – while informing the court that the information published was fake, baseless and there was no justification to publish such news which had no basis in truth and facts.
According to the evidence presented in court, Adil Raja and Tasnim Haider made false accusations against Nasir Butt on Adil Raja’s Youtube channel. Adil Raja said that Nasir Butt was involved in plot against Arshad Sharif but neither Arshad Sharif’s family nor Imran Khan have made accusations against Nasir Butt in their complaints. Nasir Butt said in a video statement that he has filed defamation case against Adil Raja. Nasir Butt said he has sued Adil Raja for £100000.
It is pertinent to mention that, in a quick span of time, Adil Raja has not only been influential in social media networks but also earned a handsome amount corresponding to his little efforts which do not seem to be possible without any external and hostile source’s support. That is why his social media cloud has achieved a catalytic increase in his viewership and earnings since his channel creation on 6 Jun 2022 with 425k subscribers, 54,005,176 videos views and $53.9k monthly income. His viewership and earnings are double on Facebook and Tiktok.
An FIR # 908/21 against Adil Raja has been registered on 5 Sep, 2021 before his abscondment abroad. His non-bailable perpetual arrest warrants have also been issued owing to serious charges of running fake news defamatory campaigns against State of Pakistan, Pak Army, Senior Military Officers, Politicians and Judicial system of Pak, Corruption in DHA, Land Grabbing, Harassment and Coercion, Bullying and Hooliganism.
Raja fled to London from Islamabad in April last year following reports that he had gone missing from Islamabad. He lives with his second wife Sabine Kiyani outside London.