Maryam Nawaz wants her passport back

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice- President, Maryam Nawaz, once again approached the Lahore High Court (LHC) on September 7 for the return of her passport.

In the petition, filed through Advocate Muhammad Amjad Pervaiz, Maryam maintained that “Retention of the passport for an indefinite period tantamounts to be violative of her fundamental rights of treatment in accordance with the law, life, liberty, right of movement and equal protection of the law.”

Earlier, three judges had refused to hear the PML-N leader’s petition seeking her passport to travel to Saudi Arabia and perform Umrah. After much delay, the petition was withdrawn by the petitioner.

Maryam in her petition further stated that she was unable to exercise her fundamental rights for the last four years despite the absence of any charge sheet or trial, as she had surrendered her passport in accordance with the court’s order, when she was arrested in 2019. Maryam’s physical custody was remanded to an investigating officer for 48 days after being sent to judicial lockup. She was later given pre-arrest bail by the LHC.

“There may not be any apprehension of abscondance or otherwise in view of the track record of the petitioner who notwithstanding a conviction order against her, voluntarily came back to Pakistan to surrender to the process of law while leaving behind her ailing mother on death bed,” the petition added.

On August 8, 2019, when Maryam was visiting her father, Nawaz Sharif at the Central Jail Lahore, she was arrested in an inquiry initiated by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and was barred from completing her visit.