The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) told the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Tuesday that Maryam Nawaz’s passport was not required.
An three-member bench, headed by LHC Chief Justice Muhammad Ameer Bhatti, was hearing the petitioner’s petition to recall her surrendered passport, which she surrendered before the LHC’s judicial registrar before receiving post-arrest bail in the Chaudhry Sugar Mills (CSML) case.
Hearing that senior lawyer Amjad Pervaiz is already in another courtroom and about to enter this courtroom, a junior lawyer on the rostrum asked the court to suspend proceedings for a short period.
CJ Bhatti criticised the lawyer for not knowing which bench was bigger and where to appear, but Amjad Pervaiz and others were unable to attend the hearing.
“I do not view this as satisfactory nor admirable,” Justice Bhatti said.
The case was adjourned by one week. As the judges left, counsel Amjad Pervaiz entered the courtroom.
It is significant that the PML-N leader’s attempts to get her passport back have resulted in a prolonged legal battle as all benches where the petition had been accepted had to be dissolved after a few judges recused themselves from the case on various grounds.
A few months ago, three judicial officers denied Maryam’s application for a passport to travel to Saudi Arabia and perform Umrah.
It is pertinent to note that the PML-N leader’s efforts to be returned her passport have seen a protracted legal battle as all benches that were assigned the petition to date had to be dissolved after a number of judges recused themselves from the case owing to various reasons.
Now a fresh full bench will take up the case after a two-member bench sent the petition to the chief justice as one of its members recused himself from the matter.
Earlier this year, three judges had refused to hear Maryam’s petition seeking her passport to travel to Saudi Arabia and perform Umrah.
The bench, headed by Justice Syed Shahbaz Ali Rizvi, had observed that the matter should be heard by the relevant bench that had already heard it and granted her post-arrest bail.
Later, another division bench headed by Justice Ali Baqar Najafi heard the plea. As the proceedings commenced, Justice Najafi announced that his colleague Justice Farooq Haider was not willing to hear the case owing to reasons best known to the judge.
The case file was then sent to Chief Justice Muhammad Ameer Bhatti with a request to place this matter before any bench.
Following this, another bench led by Justice Najafi heard the matter, but Justice Asjad Javed Ghural recused himself to hear the case. It was then again sent to the LHC chief justice to be placed before another bench.
The petition was later withdrawn by the petitioner.
A New Petition
In a new twist, the PML-N leader last month again asked the high court for her passport to be returned.
In her pending writ petition, Maryam contended that, according to records, the inquiry was initiated on November 14, 2018, but no reference had been made to her as of today despite a lapse of four years.
According to her, “keeping the passport for an indefinite period is tantamount to a violation of her fundamental rights of treatment according to the law, life, liberty, right of movement and equal protection of the law.”
According to the “settled principles of criminal justice administration as well as fundamental rights of process and fair trial guaranteed in Article 10-A of the Constitution, a presumption of innocence is required and the accused should not be deprived of his or her rights while under trial”.
