LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Friday declared that it could hold hearing into the petition pertaining to unconditional removal of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s name from the Exit Control List (ECL).

The LHC will resume hearing on the plea at 11:30am on Saturday.

Earlier it had reserved its verdict on objection raised by the federal government lawyer on its jurisdiction to hear the cases regarding placement or removal of name from the ECL.

“We will hear the plea seeking removal of Nawaz Sharif’s name from the ECL later, first we want to gauge whether we have the jurisdiction to hear it or not,” the LHC said while hearing the plea filed by the former PM’s counsel seeking removal of his client’s name from the no-fly list.

The prosecutor said the LHC did not have authority to hold hearing on this and the plea could only be heard by the Islamabad High Court (IHC).

The LHC asked whether the former PM’s name was placed on the ECL on recommendation of the NAB Islamabad or Lahore.

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) representative on this occasion said it was prerogative of the government to strike off Nawaz’s name from the said list.

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He said the convict’s name was placed on the ECL after fulfilling all legal obligations in this regard.

The court said Article 199 allowed it to hold hearing on the matter.

Nawaz’s counsel argued that model Ayyan Ali’s name was removed from the ECL and his client’s name was not being removed despite the fact that his health condition was critically bad.

To an objection raised by the ailing Sharif’s counsel, the LHC said the plaintiff was a convict.

To another objection, he said it was the government’s job to produce the convict before the court on every hearing.

“How can you think that former president Pervez Musharraf’s case can be put forward for comparison? Court has so far not announced verdict in Musharraf case, it is still pending,” the court wondered.

On Nov 13, the federal government had asked former prime minister Nawaz Sharif to deposit indemnity bond worth seven billion rupees before leaving the country for four weeks.

Addressing the press conference after meeting of the sub-committee in Islamabad, Minister for Law Farogh Naseem said Nawaz Sharif had initially been given permission to go abroad for treatment for four weeks, however this time period could be extended later viewing the health condition.