LAHORE: A Lahore High Court full bench will resume hearing on Tuesday (today) of a petition filed by PML-N vice president Maryam Nawaz seeking recovery of her passport that she had surrendered to the court for getting bail in a case.

During the previous hearing, the LHC bench headed by Chief Justice Muhammad Ameer Bhatti had sought replies from the federal government and National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Tuesday (today).

Justice Ali Baqar Najafi and Justice Tariq Saleem Sheikh are other members of the bench.

The full bench was consti-tuted after several judges recused themselves from hearing the petition of Ms Nawaz for personal reasons.

In her petition, Ms Nawaz contended that it was a known fact that her father, Nawaz Sharif, was allowed to go abroad on account of his critical health condition.

She claimed that her father had not regained his health so far as he was still undergoing diagnosis process as per a medical report filed in the court, duly attested by the Pakistan High Commission in London.

She submitted that despite absence of any charge sheet against her or trial, she had not been able to exercise her fundamental rights for about four years on account of surrendering her passport in compliance with the court order.

The PML-N leader pleaded that she was in dire need to go abroad to attend to and inquire after her ailing father. She asked the court to direct the deputy registrar (judicial) to return her passport in the interest of justice.

Earlier, the National Accoun­t­ability Bureau had opposed the petition seeking the return of Ms Nawaz’s passport, which she had surrendered to the court when post-arrest bail was granted to her in the Chaudhry Sugar Mills case.

Published in Dawn, September 27th, 2022