-Shahbaz ordered to return by July 3 if take trip abroad
-On July 5 a hearing to deliberate his removal from govt’s blacklist will continue
From Abid Usman
Lahore: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Friday issued an interim order, granting conditional permission to Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly and PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif to travel abroad once for medical treatment.
Presiding over the hearing of Shehbaz’s petition for the removal of his name from the travel black list, Justice Ali Baqar Najafi also directed the government and the Federal Investigation Agency along with the director-general of Immigrations and Passport (HQ) to submit a report to the court on or before the next hearing.
“Dispensation sought for is allowed subject to all just and legal exceptions.
“Keeping in view the past conduct and travel history, the fact that name of the petitioner is not in Exit Control List (ECL) at the moment, the name of the petitioner in blacklist, if already placed, will not stop the petitioner from one-time visit to UK from May 8,2021, to July 3, 2021 for his medical checkup as per his personal commitment made before this court,” said the interim order.
Responding to the development, Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry tweeted that Shehbaz had submitted a guarantee for PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif when he was going abroad.
“Now instead of issuing notice to Shehbaz for giving a fake guarantee [and] recalling Nawaz, Shehbaz himself is being sent abroad.”
Shehbaz had approached the LHC a day earlier to challenge the placement of his name on a travel blacklist/no-fly list and seek one-time permission to go abroad for medical treatment.
In the petition, filed through advocates Azam Nazir Tarar and Amjad Pervez, the opposition leader, who is on bail in multiple references of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), contended that the government had previously placed him on the ECL. However, the LHC had suspended the government’s act, giving him one-time permission to travel to the United Kingdom for medical check-up in 2019.
