Lahore        -          Maryam Nawaz, a key leader of PML-N, and daughter of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, filed the second petition in the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Saturday, seeking removal of her name from the Exit Control List (ECL).

A division bench, headed by Justice Ali Baqar Najafi, will hear the petition, filed by Muhammad Amjad Pervaiz and Azam Nazeer Tarar on behalf of Maryam, tomorrow (on Monday).

Earlier, the LHC had disposed of a similar petition on December 9, filed by Maryam on December 7, with the direction to the federal government’s review committee to settle the issue within seven days.

In the second such petition, the PML-N leader has again sought a one-time permission to travel abroad for six weeks.

Maryam says in the petition, “The respondent government be kindly directed to delete the name of the petitioner from Exit Control List forthwith. Meanwhile, pending the disposal of the instant petition, the petitioner may kindly be granted one-time permission to travel abroad for six weeks from the date of departure.”

The petitioner has repeated her earlier submission that the memorandum, dated August 20, 2018, be declared as illegal, without lawful authority, void ab-initio and of no legal effect in the interest of justice.

She has cited the federal government, Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and its director, the chairman, director general of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and director general immigration and passport Islamabad as respondents in the petition.

Currently, the PML-N leader is on bail in the Chaudhry Sugar Mills (CSM) case. She had to surrender her passport before the court for the purpose.

Her father Nawaz Sharif left for London last month for his medical treatment after getting bail from the court following government and court’s permission.

During the last hearing, her counsel had submitted that the court should change her petition’s status to “pending” and direct the government to decide the fate of review application. However, the division bench remarked that the court didn’t want to increase pressure on the government by doing so.