Removal of name from ECL: LHC to take up Maryam’s plea on 15th

LAHORE: PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz’s petition for removal of her name from the ECL and a one-time permission to travel abroad has been fixed for hearing before a two-judge bench of the Lahore High Court as winter vacations ended Wednesday. The bench comprising Justice Muhammad Tariq Abbasi and Chaudhry Mushtaq Ahmad will take up the petition on January 15. Before the vacations, a bench headed by Justice Ali Baqar Najafi heard the petition of Maryam Nawaz and also sought a reply from the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). In its reply, the NAB had opposed the petition and return of passport to Maryam, which she had surrendered to the court when post-arrest bail was granted to her in Chaudhry Sugar Mills case. The Bureau argued that an appeal by Maryam against her sentence in a reference was fixed before the Islamabad High Court after the vacations for which personal appearance of the appellant was necessary. It said Maryam’s brothers and other family members were already in London to look after her father Nawaz Sharif. Therefore, the passport should not be returned to the petitioner nor she be permitted to travel abroad, it added. The federal cabinet has already declined a representation of Maryam about permission to go abroad.