LHC reserves judgment on maintainability of Nawaz’s plea for removal from ECL

LAHORE (92 News) – The Lahore High Court has reserved the judgment on maintainability of a plea seeking removal of Nawaz Sharif from the ECL. The court will announce the verdict shortly. Earlier, a two-member bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC postponed hearing of the plea seeking removal of the name of former premier Nawaz Sharif from the exit control list (ECL) unconditionally for one hour. The federal government submitted its reply over removal of Nawaz Sharif from the ECL. Meanwhile, all preparations set to leave for abroad regarding the former premier has been completed at Jati Umra. Nawaz Sharif will leave after the decision in favour of him. On the other hand, the air ambulance administrations in Qatar have been alerted. On Thursday, the application filed by the Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) for the removal of Nawaz Sharif’s name from the ECL without any conditionality ‘imposed’ by the federal government. The federal government, the interior ministry and others have been named as respondents in the application. Advocate Amjad Pervez filed the application in the court on behalf of PML-N President and Leader of the Opposition Shehbaz Sharif. The application maintained that former prime minister Nawaz Sharif has been granted bail on medical grounds; however the interior ministry has not removed Sharif’s name from the no-fly list. It further recalled that Sharif, despite of being convicted, left his ailing wife [in the UK] and returned back to Pakistan with his daughter. It stated that there is no prohibition in removing the name from the ECL in the light of the bail granted to Sharif. The application pointed out to previous courts’ rulings that names of convicted persons, who entered plea bargain agreements, were removed from the ECL. A day earlier, Justice Ali Baqir Najfi and Justice Sardar Naeem of LHC heard the plea filed by PML-N president Shehbaz Sharif. The court has issued the notices to the federal government. Additional Attorney General Ishtiaq Chaudhry, who was present in court, stated that the government had linked Nawaz Sharif’s abroad departure to surety bonds worth Rs7 billion. Amjad Pervez, the counsel for Nawaz Sharif, stated that both courts had not put the condition of going abroad. “The court verdicts are present where the names of the accused doing the plea bargain had been removed from the ECL,” he said. He said that Mian Nawaz Sharif is seriously ill and his platelets go down suddenly. “It is mandatory for Nawaz Sharif to go abroad for diagnosis of his disease. He should be allowed to go abroad on humanitarian grounds,” he said. He demanded that Nawaz Sharif’s name should be removed from the ECL. The court adjourned the case till tomorrow.