LAHORE, April 2: The interior ministry declared on Tuesday its ignorance about any deal between the government and former premier Nawaz Sharif and his family or the surrender of properties by the latter in pursuance of it.

‘No comments’ or ‘does not relate to us’ were the stock replies submitted by the ministry in the court in response to a direction for para-wise comments on a writ petition filed by the estranged Miraj and Siraj families of the defunct Ittefaq Group. Filed by Advocate Mansoor Ali Shah, the petition alleges that the Sharifs surrendered joint properties and saved assets exclusively owned by them.

The petitioners requested the court to order release of their share in the joint properties. They attached a press release of the Press Information Department specifying properties surrendered by the Sharifs. As requested by the petitioners’ counsel, the court sought comments from the ministry of interior, which came up for consideration on Tuesday.

The ministry, however, stated that ‘the matter regarding the surrender of properties’ had been intimated to the National Accountability Bureau and would be dealt with by the Regional Accountability Bureau.

The court on Tuesday called for comments from the NAB-RAB within two weeks, after which a date would be fixed for the resumption of hearing.