ISLAMABAD/LONDON  -   Fugitive Pakistani Youtuber Major (retd) Adil Raja has accepted before London High Court that most of the publications he published on his social me­dia channels were capable of being defamatory of a serving senior Pakistani Military Officer who has taken legal action over defamation at the UK Royal Courts of Justice. This included a tweet al­leging that the Military Officer’s colleagues were going to kill him and Raja’s encouragement of ter­rorism against the serving military officer.

Just over an hour before the hearing was due to start at the London High Court, Adil Raja through his barrister, admitted that what he was publish­ing and promoting was defamatory at common law and accepted nearly all the meanings ad­vanced by the lawyers acting for the serving Paki­stan Military Officer.

Incidentally, Adil Raja's barrister charged him just £5,400 including VAT for the hearing, which was subsequently adjourned. This is in stark contrast to what Adil Raja and his wife, Sa­bine Kiyani, stated on Twitter when promoting his public fund­raising for this case. They alleged that the barrister was charging £20-25,000 for every hearing. These tweets were published just 6 days after the hearing in which the barrister only charged Adil Raja £5,400 for the hearing.

The case was started in London around eleven months ago by the serving Brigadier after Adil Raja published several false and de­famatory statements on his Twit­ter, Facebook and YouTube ac­counts making false and baseless accusations against the Brigadier who is posted in Punjab in a sen­sitive position.

The Military Officer has sued Adil Raja, telling the court that the fugi­tive retired Major has deliberately lied about him to cause him harm and to make money through fake news publications on social media. It was after the launch of the defa­mation case by the Pakistan Mili­tary Officer that social media giants YouTube, Facebook and WhatsApp had banned Adil Raja for spreading fake news and for incitement of vi­olence. The UK anti-terrorism po­lice has put Adil Raja on bail for in­citement of terrorism through his social media posts.

The Military Officer has sued Adil Raja over 10 publications in total. Adil Raja’s barrister ac­cepted the serving Pakistan Offi­cer’s claims that most of the pub­lications were capable of being defamatory at common law. Legal sources said Adil Raja made the admissions before the court on advice of his UK lawyer who told him he had no choice but to accept this before the court.

The decorated Pakistan Military Officer, who heads ISI Punjab, took legal action against Adil Raja af­ter the fugitive made the following false allegations against him: that the serving officer was manipulat­ing the political system by taking control of the Lahore High Court; that the officer had several meet­ings with Asif Ali Zardari during his stay on the subject of election in the ISI and Pakistan army and that such is his conduct that he will be eliminated at the right time by soldiers working covertly leak­ing information about his move­ments and actions; that the officer is part of a meticulously contrived process set up by military and in­telligence officers to rig elections in Pakistan who has been abus­ing his position, using unaccount­ed substantial funds to ensure the victory of PDM and PMLN, ly­ing and manipulating elections in Pakistan, using corrupt and un­ethical means to rig the elections to prevent PTI from winning the election through an election cell; that the officer registered a fake case against the defendant; that the officer was manipulating the police against him; that the office is involved in political interfer­ence; that the officer registered a complaint against Adil Raja in or­der to defame him and prevent him receiving his identity card and passport because Adil Raja had exposed his plans to rig elec­tions and this was how the officer, a fraudster from Lahore, operates; a fake case against Adil Raja was registered; and the serving officer played a prominent role in regime change and his corrupt practices have made him a billionaire. All of these allegations are vehemently denied by the Officer.

Major (retd) Adil Raja started his campaign against the Officer on 14 June 2022 in Tweets and YouTube broadcasts. Court papers show that the Military Officer filed his case at the court through his UK lawyers on 11 August 2022.

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 was likely to suffer further serious harm in the future.

Adil Raja, whose full name is Adil Farooq Raja, reached London from Islamabad in April 2022. He was arrested by UK counter ter­rorism police in June 2023 from Chesham where he lives. He has been bailed and is now under in­vestigation for inciting terrorism inside Pakistan.