The Lahore High Court on Saturday allowed former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to travel abroad for four weeks for medical treatment.

Court further added that the duration could be extended based on medical reports.

In a blow to the incumbent government, which had placed a condition of indemnity bonds for Sharif’s travel, the court ordered it to remove his name from the Exit Control List (ECL) without any conditions, Dawn news reported.

A two-judge bench started hearing the petition at 11 am and after multiple breaks and back and forth, delivered the verdict close to 6 pm

“Sharif is granted one time permission to travel abroad as interim arrangement for four weeks and will return when certified by doctors that he has regained his health and is fit to return back to Pakistan,” court added.

PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif hailed the decision and signed an undertaking which stated that he would “ensure return” of his brother “within four weeks or on certification by doctors that he has regained his health and is fit to return back to Pakistan”.

“I further undertake to provide/send the periodical medical report of the doctor duly notarised by the embassy to the registrar of this court,” said the document signed by Shehbaz Sharif.

Earlier on Friday, the incumbent leader of the country Imran Khan had said that he has no grudge against former premier Nawaz Sharif and his health was more important than politics.

Khan’s remark comes a day after Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Shehbaz Sharif warned that he would hold the Prime Minister responsible if anything happened to his brother as his administration was “dilly dallying on the removal of Nawaz Sharif’s name from the no-fly list”, The Express Tribune reported.

Sharif’s personal physician said that former premier continued to be in critical condition and delays to allow the PML-N supremo to travel abroad for treatment could result in an adverse impact on his life.

During the course of treatment at the Services Hospital, the former premier had suffered an angina attack, besides complaints of bleeding from gums and some other parts, because of his fluctuating platelets.

On October 25, the Lahore High Court (LHC) had bailed Nawaz Sharif indefinitely on medical grounds in Chaudhry Sugar Mills case, days after he was taken to Services Hospital from Kot Lakhpat Jail after the deterioration of his health.

Sharif was sentenced to seven years in prison in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills corruption reference on 24 December 2018. Rs1.5 billion and the US $25 million fine, a disqualification of 10 years from holding any public office was part of the sentences awarded to the former premier.

Sharif had also secured bail in the Chaudhry Sugar Mills case from the Lahore High Court on the same ground.