LAHORE: PML-N vice president Maryam Nawaz on Wednesday withdrew her petition for the return of her passport to travel to Saudi Arabia to perform Umrah.

As a special division bench comprising Justice Ali Baqar Najafi and Justice Sardar Ahmad Naeem took up the petition, Advocate Amjad Pervez appeared on behalf of Ms Nawaz said stated that his client wanted to withdraw the petition.

He said it was not practically possible to travel as the ticket for flight to Saudi Arabia was reserved for Wednesday.

The bench accepted the request and disposed of the petition as withdrawn.

The other day, two judges had recused themselves from the petition and forwarded the matter to the chief justice for its fixing before any other bench.

A bench comprising Justice Ali Baqar Najafi and Justice Farooq Haider had earlier issued notices in Ms Nawaz’s petition, however, Justice Haider recused himself from the matter when the petition came for hearing on Tuesday.

Later, Chief Justice Muhammad Ameer Bhatti constituted a bench comprising Justice Najafi and Justice Asjad Javed Ghural to hear the petition. Justice Ghural also recused himself from the matter when the bench assembled to take up the petition.

On April 21, a two-judge bench comprising Justice Syed Shahbaz Ali Rizvi and Justice Anwarul Haw Pannun had also recused from the petition saying the matter should be heard by the same bench that had granted bail to the petitioner.

Later, the petition was fixed before the bench headed by Justice Najafi.

Ms Nawaz had surrendered her passport before the court when she was allowed post-arrest bail in the Chaudhry Sugar Mills case on Nov 4, 2019. However, the bench had ordered her to surrender passport to prove bona fide as the NAB feared she could flee the country.

Published in Dawn, April 28th, 2022