LHC bench headed by Justice Ali Baqar Najafi to hear Maryam Nawaz's plea seeking return of passport on April 25.

LAHORE -- Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz Sharif's request to withdraw her passport for Umrah on Thursday has been heard by the Lahore High Court and it was forwarded to a two-member bench headed by Justice Ali Baqar Najafi to re-hear the case on April 25.

According to the details, earlier on Thursday a two-member bench of the Lahore High Court headed by Justice Syed Shahbaz Ali Rizvi heard Maryam Nawaz's petition.

Supreme Court Bar President Chaudhry Muhammad Ahsan Bhoon Advocate appeared before the court and said that Maryam Nawaz wants to go to Saudi Arabia on April 27 to perform Umrah, adding that her passport is in the custody of LHC on a court order, her passport should be returned.

Justice Shahbaz Rizvi, who presided over the bench, remarked that it will be appropriate that the same bench which granted bail to Maryam Nawaz should hear the petition.

Justice Shahbaz Rizvi, while taking action, forwarded the petition of Maryam Nawaz back to the Chief Justice of Lahore High Court.

Meanwhile, the Chief Justice Lahore High Court Justice Muhammad Ameer Bhatti sent Maryam Nawaz's petition to Justice Ali Baqar Najafi.

A two-member bench headed by Justice Baqar Najafi will hear the case on April 25.

It is worth mentioning here that the PML-N leader had surrendered her passport to the high court and submitted surety bonds after a two-member bench headed by Justice Ali Baqar Najafi granted her post-arrest bail in the Chaudhry Sugar Mills case in 2019.

In the petition filed by Muhammad Ahsan Bhoon, Maryam Nawaz requested the court to direct the Deputy Registrar (Judicial) to return her passport which she had surrendered complying with LHC's order dated October 31, 2019.

In her plea, Maryam Nawaz implored that freedom of movement was a fundamental right guaranteed by the Constitution of Pakistan and the passport condition imposed through the order deprived her of the said right.

'There is settled law that...