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.
Following this, the proceedings were briefly adjourned.
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.
Global News 
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