LAHORE - PTI Chairman Imran Khan failed to apologise to Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif within two weeks of legal notice for allegations of corruption after which the CM’s legal team is bracing up for proceedings against the cricket-turned-politician.

However, it is not clear how long will the legal brains take to bring the PTI chairman to the dock. On Oct 28, CM Shehbaz in his private capacity served legal notice on Imran Khan through his counsel Mustafa Ramday, demanding him to withdraw allegations of corruption against him and tender apology. Otherwise, the notice said, court of law would be moved against him.

Now, more than 18 days have passed to the legal notice but still no response has been received from the PTI chairman. Instead, PTI leader Aleem Khan announced on Oct 28 to serve legal notice on Shehbaz Sharif.

Ramday, former Punjab advocate general, told The Nation the draft was ready and would soon be filed in the court. When asked about the mandatory period of 14 days, he did not reply. The counsel also did not mention any date when the suit would be moved to the court.

It was an unprecedented notice in terms of amount of Rs26 billion, as no political leader in the near past had filed any such legal notice of heavy amount.

The notice stated that the allegations leveled against Shehbaz Sharif were false, unfounded, and malicious and motivated with the intent to malign and harm his reputation. On Oct 26, the CM held a press conference and said: “Imran Khan accused me of Rs26 billion corruption. Today, I will announce Rs26b defamation lawsuit against Imran Khan.”

"Whether a reply comes or not, I will approach the court. If the court proves the allegations against me, then my children I will forever leave politics. But if court proves him wrong, then the nation will make a decision," he further said.

The sudden response of Imran Khan to Sharif’s press conference was merely a tweet in which he had said he was amused by “Shahbaz Sharif's hysterical response to my press conference”. In a string of tweets, the PTI chairman said the biggest lie of Sharif brothers was their claim they don’t lie. 

Khan further said that “Jahangir Khan Tarin and Aleem Khan would sue Shahbaz Sharif for what he said leveling false allegations against them,”.

Aleem Khan was unavailable for his comments about the progress on this issue.