LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Tuesday ordered the federal government to remove the name of the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly, Shahbaz Sharif, from the Exit Control List (ECL).

Allowing the petition of Mr Sharif, a two-judge bench headed by Justice Malik Shahzad Ahmad Khan observed that no one could be deprived of his/her liberty on the basis of mere allegations.

During the course of hearing, advocate Azam Nazir Tarar argued on behalf of Mr Sharif that the petitioner wanted to go abroad to inquire after his newborn granddaughter and to attend other responsibilities in his role as the president of a political party.

Observing that the Ministry of Interior had placed the petitioner’s name on the ECL upon the request of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), the judge decreed that a curb on the petitioner’s travel internationally was a ‘blatant violation’ of his fundamental rights.

Two-judge bench asks NAB if it has documentary evidence against petitioner

The counsel argued that the impugned memorandum issued by the federal government did not only fail to disclose valid and correct reasons for its issuance but was also void for punishing the petitioner unheard.

The NAB prosecutor argued that an inquiry was in progress against Mr Sharif on charges of accumulating ‘huge assets’ beyond known sources of income. But the prosecutor had no satisfactory answer to the bench’s query whether the bureau had any documentary evidence to prove the allegations. “Verbally, you can even declare Shahbaz Sharif the richest man on earth,” stated the bench, putting forth the question of how putting the name of a person on the ECL after the grant of bail was not a violation of the court’s order.

Advocate Tarar argued that Mr Sharif had appeared before NAB whenever he was summoned, yet his name remained on the ECL, pointing out that the petitioner would go abroad and return during the inquiry and investigation. He referred to the case of model Ayan Ali, wherein the court ordered the removal of her name from the ECL.

After hearing the arguments, the bench ordered the government to remove the name of Mr Sharif from the ECL.

The federal cabinet had approved placing Mr Sharif’s name on the ECL after the high court granted him bail in two NAB cases pertaining to Ashiana Housing Scheme and Ramzan Sugar Mills.

Published in Dawn, March 27th, 2019