The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Thursday accepted for hearing a petition calling for Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s name to be added to the Exit Control List (ECL), while the first hearing of the application will be held today.
The petition was filed by Advocate Javed Jaffery — the counsel of Imran Ali — who had earlier petitioned the LHC in 1991 seeking disqualification of the then premier Nawaz Sharif on grounds that he does not comply with Articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution.
The petition contended that the premier’s name should be added to the ECL so that he does not leave the country, as the court was yet to hear the 1991 disqualification plea against him.
Earlier on May 6, LHC Chief Justice Manzoor Ahmad Malik constituted a five-judge larger bench comprising Justice Muhammad Farrukh Irfan Khan, Justice Ayesha A. Malik, Justice Muhammad Qasim Khan, Justice Faisal Zaman Khan and Justice Mirza Waqas Rauf to hear the 1991 petition that sought then premier Nawaz Sharif’s disqualification.
The case had been pending for decades after which the LHC on April 27 ordered that a larger bench be formed to hear the high-profile case, since according to law; cases involving high-profile individuals such as the prime minister require at least five or seven judges on the bench.
The unavailability of the required number of judges is why the petition has been pending for so long.
The petitioner had said that Nawaz Sharif was not eligible to hold the post of prime minister, as he possesses assets abroad.
The ECL is a system of border control, which is maintained by the government under the Exit from Pakistan (Control) Ordinance. People on the ECL are forbidden from travelling outside Pakistan.
