ISLAMABAD, April 2: The Supreme Court will take up the petition of former chief minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif seeking permission to return to Pakistan, on Wednesday.

On the last hearing on March 17, the SC bench headed by Chief Justice Nazim Hussain Siddiqui had asked the federation of Pakistan, the Punjab government and the immigration director general to submit separate comments within 15 days on the constitutional petition.

The SC bench will consist of Chief Justice Nazim Hussain Siddiqui, Justice Javed Iqbal and Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar.

Mian Shahbaz Sharif has approached the court through his counsel, Justice (retd) Malik Qayyum, saying that he was being denied his fundamental rights and access to justice by state authorities as he wanted to surrender before the court.

The counsel pleaded that the Supreme Court allow his client to come back to Pakistan so that he could defend himself in accordance with law.

Shahbaz Sharif and 11 other co-accused have been booked by Sabza Zar police station, Lahore, in connection with an encounter with police in which four people had been shot dead. An accountability court has also declared Shahbaz Sharif an absconder.

Replying to a court query whether Shahbaz Sharif had ever made a serious effort to return to the country, the counsel said his client's wife and daughter had tried to come to Pakistan a few months ago but were forced by the government to return to Saudi Arabia. This, he said, was a clear manifestation of the government's intention not to allow his client to return.