LHC admits PML-N plea against Nawaz Sharif’s travel conditions
The Lahore High Court ( LHC) on Friday admitted for hearing a petition challenging the government's condition of furnishing indemnity bonds in order to secure the removal of ailing former prime minister Nawaz Sharif's name from the Exit Control List (ECL).
The court had reserved its judgement on the admissibility of the petition in the afternoon.
After declaring the plea as maintainable, the LHC initially summoned lawyers from both sides to present arguments on the merits of the petition on Monday. However, upon request from PML-N's lawyers, the court fixed the next hearing of the petition for 11:30am tomorrow (Saturday).
At the outset of today's hearing, the court asked if the federal government had submitted its written reply, to which the government's lawyer, Additional Attorney General ( AAG) Chaudhry Ishtiaq A Khan, responded in the affirmative. The court asked that a copy of the response be given to the petitioner's lawyer and told them that if they needed, they could take time to read the government's response.
In its 45-page reply, the federal government opposed the request seeking unconditional permission for Nawaz to travel abroad, saying the LHC does not have the jurisdiction to hear the petition.
Cases against Nawaz are being heard in various courts of the country, the government said, adding that it has allowed the former prime minister to travel abroad for four weeks.
According to the government response, Nawaz's name was added to the ECL based on the National Accountability Bureau's ( NAB) recommendation. The government pleaded to the court to reject the petition as non-maintainable. Following the recess, PML-N president Shehbaz Sharif's counsel Amjad Pervez argued that the LHC has the authority to hear the petition.
He said that several past court judgements support their stance, and presented copies of court orders to support his argument for Nawaz's name to be taken off the ECL unconditionally.
The government cannot deprive anyone of their fundamental rights, the lawyer argued, citing the example of former military ruler retired Gen Pervez Musharraf who was allowed to travel abroad. At this, the bench pointed out that Musharraf's case could not be referenced because he had not been convicted when his name was taken off the no-fly list.
Justice Ali Baqar Najafi, who was heading the bench, noted that according to the record NAB has left the entire matter relating to removing Nawaz's name from the ECL to the government. Adding to this point, Advocate Pervez said NAB had in a letter stated that the authority to add or remove names from the ECL rested with the federal government. He said following this statement, the federal law minister had asked NAB to again clarify its stance on the matter.