LAHORE, June 28: The spouse and four children of PML-N president Shahbaz Sharif moved the Lahore High Court on Saturday through a habeas corpus petition alleging that currently they were illegally confined at their Model Town residence on the orders of the Lahore SSP and had been denied access to basic utilities.

Justice Raja Muhammad Sabir, who conducted the proceedings in his retiring room, directed the Additional Advocate General Hanif Khatana to seek instructions from the provincial government by June 30 regarding the alleged confinement of the Sharif family and update the court accordingly. The AAG assured the court that the provision of the basic utilities to the petitioners would be restored and they would be allowed to meet their close relatives.

“The AAG assures that basic utility facilities would be restored if already disconnected for no fault on part of the respondent and the petitioners’ close relatives shall be permitted to meet them in the house,” read the order.

Earlier, the Sharif family counsel Ashtar Ausaf Ali filed the habeas petition on emergency basis for the recovery of the five family members of Shahbaz Sharif, including his two sons and as many daughters along with his wife. Mr Ashtar alleged that the five detenues had been detained at their residence under the orders of the Lahore SSP.

“I was informed by Hamza Shahbaz through a cellphone call today that the telephone and electricity connections at their residence were snapped,” he claimed, adding that such actions were “aimed at illegally deporting the family members who were all non-political figures.”

As further argued by Mr Ashtar, the five family members were citizens of Pakistan and holders of both national ID cards and Pakistani passports. “Their legal right to stay in Pakistan cannot be snatched in this manner”. He requested the court to depute a bailiff for the recovery of the detenues, and direct the SSP Lahore to refrain from detaining them.