Shehbaz Sharif arrives in LHC as indemnity bond hearing resumes today

• This will be the third consecutive hearing on PML-N's petition challenging govt's demand of indemnity bonds.
• LHC rejected NAB's arguments and said that petition by PML-N was maintainable before the high court.

The Lahore High Court (LHC) will resume hearing on Saturday the petition challenging government's condition of indemnity bonds in order to secure the removal of Nawaz Sharif's name from Exit Control List (ECL).

Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif and Nawaz's lawyers reached the high court as the bench will hear the petition. The case will be heard by a two-member bench comprising Justice Ali Baqar Najafi and Justice Sardar Ahmad Naeem. The government is represented by Additional Attorney General (AAG) Chaudhry Ishtiaq A. Khan.

During the hearing, the bench asked the Sharif family for a written affidavit guaranteeing that Nawaz will return to Pakistan after receiving treatment. Following the court's directions, the PML-N legal team submitted a handwritten undertaking to the court.

The LHC rejected on Friday the National Accountability Bureau's (NAB) argument that the PML-N's petition was not within the jurisdiction of the LHC. The bench observed that the petition was maintainable before the LHC.

Earlier on Wednesday, the government granted a one-time permission to Nawaz for four weeks to travel abroad for his treatment on the condition that he submit indemnity bonds worth over Rs7.5 billion. However, the PML-N rejected the offer and approached the high court on Thursday.

The LHC accepted the petition and the two-member bench heard it on the same day. Nawaz has already been was granted bail by the Islamabad High Court on humanitarian grounds in the Al-Azizia corruption reference. He has also obtained bail in the Chaudhry Sugar Mills case from the LHC.