Court orders to return Maryam’s passport
LAHORE: THE Lahore High Court (LHC) directed its deputy registrar (judicial) on Monday to return Pakistan Muslim League-nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz’s passport, which she had surrendered to the court in 2019 for granting bail in in the Chaudhry Sugar Mills (CSM) case.
The development comes days ater the Islamabad High Court (IHC) set aside her conviction in the Avenfield case.
A full bench, headed by LHC Chief Justice Muhammad Ameer Bhati and comprising Justice Ali Baqar Najafi and Justice Tariq Saleem Sheikh, issued the directives while hearing Maryam’s plea for the recovery of her passport.
At the previous hearing, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had told the high court that it did not require the PML-N leader’s passport. In comments, the anti-grat watchdog did not deny the contention made in her petition regarding the Supreme Court judgments wherein it had been held that registration of criminal cases could not deprive a citizen of exercising constitutional rights.
The deputy atorney general and the NAB lawyer told the court that neither the federal government nor the accountability watchdog had any objections to returning Maryam’s passport.
The hearing began with Maryam’s counsel, Amjad Pervaiz, apologising to the court for his absence at the previous hearing and presenting his arguments.
The LHC chief justice asked him whether this was the second plea the PML-N leader had filed for the recovery of her passport. Pervaiz confirmed to the court that this was the second plea, saying that proceedings on the first were also under way.
However, he stated that the stance in both the pleas was different and told the court he wanted to withdraw the first plea. In addition, he also presented a rough outline of events pertaining to the case as he built his argument.
“Maryam was arrested in the Chaudhry Sugar Mills case. She was sent on physical remand and later remanded in judicial custody, ater which the LHC granted her bail on merit,” he contented.