LHC seeks NAB’s reply on Maryam’s plea

Her lawyers say Nawaz’s fresh medical reports submitted to court along with petition

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Tuesday issued a notice to the National Accountability Bureau seeking its reply to PML-N leader Maryam Nawaz’s request to include former premier Nawaz Sharif’s fresh medical reports in her plea seeking permission to travel abroad to be with her ailing father.

Her lawyers, Amjad Pervez and Azam Nazir Tarrar, told a three-member bench headed Justice Ali Baqar Najafi that the latest medical reports of their client’s father had been submitted to the court.

They noted that the daughter of the Sharif family patriarch had been granted bail by the LHC in the Chaudhry Sugar Mills case and the Islamabad High Court suspended her sentence in the Avenfield case.

They informed the court the their client had returned to the country long with her father to serve her sentence despite the illness of her mother, who later passed away, even though she could have opted to stay abroad.

The lawyers requested the court to allow Maryam to travel so that she could be with her father, who had an angiography procedure scheduled for February 24.

The court adjourned the hearing till February 25, seeking a reply from the anti-graft body.

Earlier this month, PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif had asked the federal government to allow Maryam to be with her ailing father in London on humanitarian grounds.

Regretting the PTI government’s decision to deny Maryam permission to travel abroad, Shehbaz claimed that Nawaz’s doctors had twice postponed pre-decided cardiac procedures due to Maryam’s absence.

The former prime minister, who has been diagnosed with a complicated coronary artery disease and is under treatment in London. The Sharifs left Pakistan on November 20, 2019 – four days after the LHC directed the federal government to remove Nawaz’s name from the ECL for four weeks.

Prior to that, Nawaz, who is serving a seven-year prison sentence in the Al Azizia corruption reference, was granted eight-week bail on medical grounds by the Islamabad High Court on October 27.

Maryam was arrested in August 2019 by NAB in connection with an investigation pertaining to the Chaudhry Sugar Mills. Subsequently, she was granted post-arrest bail by a Lahore High Court bench against two surety bonds worth Rs20 million and deposit of an additional Rs70 million. She was also ordered to surrender her passport to secure release.

Maryam then moved the LHC seeking the return of her passport and one-time permission to fly to London for six weeks to see her ailing father. She stated that her father’s health was critical and she was under inexplicable stress because of her inability to be with him at a time when he needs extra care. She said her father is dependent on her.

The high court directed the federal government to decide on the matter.

In December 2019, the cabinet sub-committee, tasked to review Maryam’s plea, decided against allowing a convict to leave Pakistan. “There is no such provision in the law,” said Dr Babar Awan. “If anyone wants this condition included then the matter will have to be taken up in parliament.”

In January 2020, the federal cabinet placed Maryam’s name on the ECL for the second time in the same case.