The petition, filed by Advocate Naeem Haider Panjutha on Thursday, referred to reports in the media claiming that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had ordered a diplomatic passport to be issued for his elder brother Nawaz. The petition said that instructions had been issued to the Interior and Foreign Affairs’ secretaries.

The court stated that the petitioner had failed to substantiate the claim by not providing the purported order or notification to issue a passport to Nawaz.

No evidentiary report was attached to the press reports and no reliance can be placed on it when a person claims a legal right on its basis.

The court rejected the plea and fined the petitioner Rs5,000. “It is mandatory for an absconding convict to surrender himself to jail authorities,” the court added.

Earlier on, the petitioner had contended that Nawaz should not be issued a passport as he was an “absconding convict”. “Therefore, the authorities should be barred from issuing him a diplomatic passport.”

During the hearing, Justice Athar Minallah remarked that there had been talk of this in the entire media. “We tried to get the order but could not.”

Courts do not decide cases on the basis of media reports, Justice Minallah observed,