The Lahore High Court (LHC) is 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).
A two-judge bench comprising Justice Ali Baqar Najafi and Justice Sardar Ahmad Naeem is hearing the case, which was filed by PML-N’s legal team on behalf of the former prime minister.
During the hearing, the court asked Nawaz’s lawyer if the former premier was willing to submit anything as surety. The bench allowed PML-N’s legal team to discuss the matter with Nawaz and adjourned the hearing for 15 minutes.
At the outset of the hearing, the bench asked Additional Attorney General (AAG) Chaudhry Ishtiaq A. Khan, who is representing the government, if the memorandum by the interior ministry was “issued on humanitarian basis”.
Khan said that the federal government is aware that the Nawaz’s condition is “precarious”. He added that the government decided to remove the former premier’s name from the ECL but has asked him to submit an indemnity bond.
“If Nawaz Sharif does not want to submit the bonds to the government, then he can submit them to court,” Khan said.
PML-N’s legal team, party president Shehbaz Sharif and leaders Pervez Rashid and Ahsan Iqbal arrived in the court ahead of the hearing. The legal team of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) as well as the government — both named as respondents in the case — also arrived in the court. NAB is being represented by Faisal Bukhari and Chaudhry Khaliqur Rehman.
The high court had yesterday declared the petition as maintainable after hearing the arguments of PML-N’s legal team and the respondents.
The government had argued that the petition was not within the jurisdiction of the LHC. The argument was rejected by the bench, which relied upon superior courts’ judgements cited by PML-N’s legal team and observed that the petition was maintainable before the LHC.
“The arguments advanced by the learned additional attorney general that the conditions mentioned in the impugned memorandum are based upon the judgement pronounced by the accountability court, Islamabad, and challenged before the Islamabad High Court, therefore, this court lacks jurisdiction, has not impressed us,” said the bench in its three-page short verdict.
On Wednesday, the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government, after much deliberation, had granted a one-time permission to Nawaz for four weeks to travel abroad for his treatment provided he submitted indemnity bonds worth over Rs7.5 billion.
The condition was challenged in LHC by the PML-N legal team, on behalf of the former premier, on Thursday and was taken up by the two-member bench on the same day.
Nawaz, who was diagnosed with an immune system disorder, has been advised to go abroad for medical treatment. The name of the former premier — who is convicted in two corruption cases and is a suspect in another — was placed on the ECL.
The former prime minister was rushed from Kot Lakhpat jail to the hospital last month after his personal physician Dr Adnan Khan raised an alarm over his deteriorating health. Following this, Shehbaz Sharif had submitted a request to the interior ministry as well as NAB for the removal of Nawaz’s name from the ECL so that the former prime minister could travel abroad for medical treatment.
Nawaz, who was incarcerated after an accountability court found him guilty in the Al Azizia corruption reference, was granted bail by the Islamabad High Court on humanitarian grounds. He also obtained bail in the Chaudhry Sugar Mills case, in which he is a suspect, from the LHC.
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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 has summoned lawyers from both sides to present arguments on the merits of the petition on Monday.
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.
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.
Government counsel AAG Khan informed the court that the names of Nawaz and his children Maryam Nawaz, Hassan Nawaz and Hussain Nawaz were added to the ECL in the Avenfield case after the Supreme Court had ordered the filing of references against them.
He said Nawaz’s name was added to the no-fly list after fulfilling all legal requirements.
Using an example, the bench asked which court a person would approach if they were a resident of Karachi and their name was added to the ECL in Islamabad.
“Every case has different merits and record,” the government lawyer responded.
He said because Nawaz was sentenced by a NAB court in Islamabad and the appeal against it is being heard in the Islamabad High Court (IHC), the request seeking removal of Nawaz’s name from the ECL could only be heard by the IHC.
AAG Khan argued that the government had not asked the Sharif family to submit surety bonds but indemnity bonds and that if Nawaz has reservations regarding submitting the same, he can approach the IHC.
The bench pointed out that the Chaudhry Sugar Mills case in which Nawaz is nominated is being heard in Lahore while PML-N counsel Pervez reminded the court that the Avenfield case had been filed by NAB Lahore.
AAG Khan said a court in Karachi had rejected a petition as non-maintainable that challenged a NAB case filed elsewhere.
At this, Justice Najafi reminded the government counsel that the petition currently being heard by the court concerns an ECL issue and a man who is “very ill”.
After hearing the arguments, the high court reserved its judgement on the maintainability of PML-N’s petition. No time for the announcement of the verdict was immediately provided.
Ahead of the hearing, strict security arrangements were made. PML-N’s legal team, as well as party leaders including Ahsan Iqbal, arrived in court for the proceedings.
A two-member bench of the court comprising Justice Najafi and Justice Sardar Ahmad Naeem had taken up the petition on Thursday evening, the same day that a PML-N legal team submitted it. The court had issued notices to the federal government and NAB to submit a written reply by today.
