LAHORE: A division bench of the Lahore High Court on Wednesday referred petitions relating to Panama leaks to the chief justice with a request to form a larger bench to decide them.

The bench comprising Justice Mirza Viqas Rauf and Justice Sardar Muhammad Sarfraz Dogar observed that the questions raised in the petitions were important in nature and needed to be decided by a larger bench.

PTl lawyers` wing leader Advocate Gohar Nawaz Sindhu and others had filed the petitions seeking investigation by the National Accountability Bureau into the alleged involvement of prime minister and his family members in establishing offshore companies and concealing facts from the public.

NOTICE: The LHC chief justice issued a notice to the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) on petitions filed by several Pakhtuns challenging cancellation of their computerised national identity cards (CNICs).

The petitioners, through their counsel, contended that Nadra blocked their CNICs declaring them Afghan nationals, despite the fact they had been living in Pakistan since their birth. The petitioners said they had been facing a number of problems after the cancellation of their CNICs.

They asked the court to order Nadra to restore their CNICs.

The chief justice sought a reply from Nadra by Nov 8.-Staff Reporter