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Even though Pakistani laws on defamation is toothless, let me give you defamation laws in USA and western world of democracy.
This is to prove that defamation law against a public figure is different than what it is for private citizen who is not public figure. For public figure, other than the person proving defamation, he has to prove malice (non-public figure do not have to prove malice). Since Malice is such difficult thing to prove in court, in effect, public figures cannot even think of making defamation charges against anyone. Here are defamation law:
What is “actual malice” in defamation law? | Rottenstein Law Group LLP
What is “actual malice” in defamation law?
In personal injury law, defamation occurs when someone publishes a false statement that ends up harming the injured person’s reputation, resulting in damages. To prove that defamation occurred, theplaintiff in a defamation case must prove all of the following:
- The defendant made a statement (spoken or written);
- The statement was false;
- The defendant published the statement by speaking it or sending it in writing to a third person; and
- The publication of the false statement injured the plaintiff’s reputation, making the plaintiff entitled to damages.
Injured plaintiffs who are private citizens only have to prove the four elements listed above. An injured plaintiff who is a “public figure,” however, has to prove these four elements plus one more: that the defendant published the statement with “actual malice.
**Defamation - Wikipedia
Cases involving libeledit]**
An early example of libel would be the case of John Peter Zenger in 1735. Zenger was hired to publish New York Weekly Journal. When he printed another man’s article that criticized William Cosby, who was then British Royal Governor ofColonial New York, Zenger was accused of Seditious Libel.[SUP][9]](Defamation - Wikipedia)[/SUP] The verdict was returned as Not Guilty on the charge of seditious libel, having proved that all the statements Zenger had published about Cosby had been true, so there was not an issue of defamation. Another example of libel would be the case of New York Times Co. v. Sullivan (1964). The (Supreme Court of the United States - Wikipedia) overruled a State court in Alabama that had found The New York Times guilty of libel for printing an advertisement that criticized Alabama officials for mistreating student civil rights activists. Even though some of what The Times printed was false, the Court ruled in its favor, saying that libel of a public official requires proof of Actual Malice, which was defined as a “knowing or reckless disregard for the truth”.[SUP][10]](Defamation - Wikipedia)[/SUP]
Proving libeledit]
There are several ways a person must go about proving that libel has taken place. For example, in the United States, the person must prove that the statement was false, caused harm, and was made without adequate research into the truthfulness of the statement. These steps are for an ordinary citizen. For a celebrity or a public official, the person must prove the first three steps and that the statement was made with the intent to do harm or with reckless disregard for the truth,[SUP][11]](Defamation - Wikipedia)[/SUP] which is usually specifically referred to as “proving malice”.[SUP][12]](Defamation - Wikipedia)[/SUP]
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All above shows that defamation of an individual (private citizen) has different and stringent law than defamation law for public figures.
In all cases, defamation of a public figure is not charged if defamation occurred but there was no malice.
For instance: if I call someone (a private citizen who is not public figure) a Thug that can be proven, as it was printed or there are witnesses, and if that person is not thug that he can prove, than I am defaming that person and can be charged of defamation.
On the other hand, if that person is not a private citizen but public figure or government official than to call him thug (supposing that he is not ), and there is proof that I called him thug, still I would not be guilty of defamation unless that public figure can prove that I called him with malice
[Malice is desire to harm the person one is defaming … or defaming that person with wrong intention … and since desire or intention is almost impossible to prove in court, malice is almost impossible to prove, so no defamation charge can be made for defaming a public figure].
So when a person calls Nawaz as Thug or liar … and Zardari as dacu … than that is not even false accusations, and thus no defamation happened, but even if they were Angels (innocent of what they are called), then also, since they are public figures, one calling them thug, liar or dacu would be wrong, still it would be impossible to prove that one has called them these names with malice, hence no defamation has happened … because they are public figures.