Pakistan’s Supreme Court today sought the federal government’s response to a petition asking it to bar President Asif Ali Zardari from leaving the country after he completes his term next month.

A two-judge bench issued the notice to the government in connection with the petition related to the US military operation that killed Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad in May 2011.

The next hearing is scheduled for September 3, just five days before Zardari completes his presidential tenure.

Zardari’s Pakistan People’s Party has insisted that he will not leave Pakistan after he completes his five-year term.