Senior lawyer and Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) member Ahsan Bhoon has filed a Rs5 billion defamation claim against retired Captain Muhammad Safdar in the Punjab Defamation Tribunal, escalating a dispute that began over the authenticity of his law degree and has since drawn in the country’s top legal institutions. The tribunal has declared the claim maintainable and issued a notice to Safdar for November 11.

Bhoon’s claim alleges that Safdar made defamatory remarks in television interviews and on social media about his law degree and his eligibility to practise law. According to the claim, Bhoon obtained his LLB from the University of the Punjab, and the qualification has been verified by the relevant authorities. He says the remarks damaged a legal career spanning several decades and his professional reputation. He is seeking Rs1 billion in general damages, Rs2 billion in special damages and Rs2 billion in punitive damages, and has asked the tribunal to order Safdar to withdraw the statements, offer an unconditional apology and refrain from repeating them. A finding that a claim is maintainable is a procedural step, meaning the tribunal will hear it, and says nothing yet about whether the allegations are proved.

The dispute began in late September. Bhoon served Safdar with a legal notice seeking Rs5 billion over an alleged statement on September 23 questioning the authenticity of his LLB degree, demanding a withdrawal and an unconditional apology within seven days. According to the notice, Bhoon earned his LLB from the University of the Punjab in March 1989, and the university’s Controller of Examinations re-verified the credentials on January 21, 2026, during the Pakistan Bar Council elections. Safdar had recently called for the verification of law degrees held by several senior lawyers, including Bhoon, amid controversy surrounding the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) elections. Federal Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar publicly defended Bhoon, saying his credentials had been verified in earlier bar elections, and said Safdar was neither a lawyer nor a bar member and should stay away from bar matters.

Safdar then took the matter to the JCP. In a complaint to the commission’s secretary, he sought urgent verification of Bhoon’s qualifications, enrolment and professional credentials, alleging that the degree on which Bhoon entered the profession might not be genuine. He asked the commission to examine the original records and confirm the institution, the year of admission and the dates of study and graduation. Daily Times reported that the complaint also sought verification from the Higher Education Commission and the bar councils.

The institutions that have since weighed in have sided with Bhoon. The Pakistan Bar Council said on October 8 that the degrees of its elected members, including Bhoon, were genuine, explaining that the returning officers for the 2020 and 2025 elections had verified the degrees through the relevant universities before notifying the members. It added that some degrees were sent again to universities and the Higher Education Commission for verification. On October 13, sources said the JCP, at a meeting chaired by Chief Justice of Pakistan Yahya Afridi, declared Bhoon’s degree genuine after verifying his credentials and disposed of Safdar’s complaint. Bhoon, a former Lahore High Court judge, former president of the SCBA and a former vice-chairman of the Pakistan Bar Council, sits on the JCP himself, which is the body that recommends judicial appointments, so questions about his credentials carried particular weight.

Also Read: Pakistan and IMF Begin Talks to Unlock $1.2 Billion in Fresh Financing

The context makes the case more than a personal dispute. Safdar is a former member of the National Assembly and the husband of Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz, and Bhoon has been described by Daily Times as a close associate of the law minister. The SCBA elections are scheduled for October 29, and the controversy over degrees emerged as bar politics heated up. Whether the allegations were intended as part of that contest, or were a genuine concern about verification, is a matter on which the parties disagree, and nothing in the record published so far resolves it. The allegations against Bhoon have been examined by two institutions that have found his degree genuine, while the defamation claim has yet to be decided.

Several questions will shape what happens next. Will Safdar appear before the tribunal on November 11, and will he defend the remarks or withdraw them? How will the tribunal treat the clearances by the Bar Council and the JCP in assessing whether the statements were defamatory? And does a claim of this size, Rs5 billion, set a benchmark for how aggressively public figures can respond to allegations about their credentials, particularly when the person making them is politically connected?

For the legal community, the larger issue is confidence in the verification process. The fact that Bar Council and JCP checks have now confirmed the degree is likely to be cited by Bhoon’s side, while Safdar’s supporters may argue that raising the question was a legitimate public concern. The tribunal’s hearing next month will show how the matter proceeds, and whether it ends in a settlement, an apology or a full trial.

Compiled by the Weekly PK Legal Desk.