ISLAMABAD, March 17: The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the Federation of Pakistan, the Punjab provincial government and the immigration director general to submit separate comments within 15 days on a constitutional petition of former chief minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif seeking permission to return to Pakistan.

The court's full bench comprising Chief Justice Nazim Hussain Siddiqui, Justice Javed Iqbal and Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar adjourned the hearing with a direction to the office to fix the case for hearing after receiving the comments from the respondents.

Justice (retd) Malik Qayyum told the court that his client (Mian Shahbaz Sharif) was being denied fundamental rights and access to justice by state authorities while he was ready to surrender before the court.

He 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 in Lahore in connection with an encounter with police in which four people were 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.

When asked again by Justice Javed Iqbal whether the state had ever issued any order restricting Shahbaz Sharif's entry into Pakistan, Justice Qayyum quoted press statements of President Pervez Musharraf, Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat and Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed stating to the effect that neither Benazir Bhutto nor any member of Sharif's family would ever be allowed to come back to Pakistan.

After preliminary hearing, the Supreme Court issued notices to the federation of Pakistan through the interior ministry's secretary, to the Punjab government through the provincial home secretary, and to director general of immigration to submit their respective comments within 15 days.