Daily Times

A two-member bench of the Lahore High Court on Monday took up Maryam Nawaz’s second petition seeking removal of her name from the no-fly list and granting one-time permission to visit London to inquire after her ailing father and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif.

The LHC on December 9 had disposed of the PML-N leader’s earlier petition and directed the government’s review committee to decide on the matter within a week. During the proceedings on Monday, the two-member bench comprising Justice Ali Baqar Najafi and Justice Anwarul Haq Pannu asked how long it had been since its earlier order was issued, in response to which Maryam’s lawyer Advocate Amjad Pervez said that it had been two weeks since the directive was issued to the government and that no decision had yet been taken on the matter. Pervez added that Maryam’s representative Atta Tarrar had also appeared before the government’s review committee but still no decision was taken.

Babar Awan says government cannot permit any convict to leave country

The court asked Additional Attorney General Chaudhry Ishtiaq A Khan, who was representing the federal government, if the government had taken any decision on removing the PML-N vice president’s name from the ECL. AAG Khan said the review committee presents its recommendation to the cabinet, which then decides on the matter. Justice Pannu noted that though the government has yet to decide on the matter, he had read in the newspaper in the morning that the government would not allow her to go abroad. “The government has to take a decision, and they should do so. How are they giving a statement before the decision is taken?” he asked. The court said that Maryam Nawaz should be informed of whatever decision is taken on Tuesday during the cabinet meeting. Justice Pannu also asked Maryam’s counsel to explain the maintainability of the case. “Is this petition for Maryam Nawaz or Nawaz Sharif?” he asked, in response to which Advocate Pervez said a summary of Nawaz’s case has been included in his daughter’s petition as their cases are connected.

The proceedings were adjourned until December 26 (Thursday).

Meanwhile, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) senior leader and former law minister Dr Babar Awan on Monday said the incumbent government will never allow any convicted person to leave the country.

Addressing a press conference in Islamabad, he said those who take bail on medical grounds become healthy when they arrive in foreign states, adding that PTI has not done any politics on the matter of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s health. He said disallowing Maryam Nawaz from traveling abroad shows supremacy of the law. ECL laws were prepared in 1980 and amended in 2010, he stated.