LAHORE: Lahore High Court will hear on Saturday a plea challenging the government's conditional approval for ailing former premier Nawaz Sharif's travel abroad, seeking his name to be removed from the country no-fly list.

The petition filed by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) president, Shahbaz Sharif, was admitted for hearing on Friday.

A two-member bench comprising Justice Ali Baqar Najfi and Justice Sardar Ahmad Naeem is hearing the case.

Nawaz, 69, who has thrice held the country top political office, is currently serving a seven-year sentence on corruption charges and was granted bail on health grounds.

The government approved his request to allow him to avail medical treatment abroad but only against a surety bond of Rs.7 billion with clearly specifying his date of return -- the conditions were all rejected by him.

Nawaz's brother and party president, Shahbaz Sharif, said Thursday that the government’s conditional approval was an "intentional delay" with “no legal, constitutional or judicial basis.”

Addressing a press conference in Lahore Shahbaz said that the government’s “terrible demand” could be life-threatening to the ailing former premier whose health was rapidly deteriorating.

The country's Law Minister Farogh Naseem told a news conference on Wednesday that the government's approval "will be a one-time permission" and that “Sharif will be allowed to go anywhere in the world but will have to return in four weeks.”

He said the permission was granted to fulfill the government’s obligation in view of the former prime minister’s “critical medical condition.”

Reacting to the conditional permission, PML-N chairman Raja Zafrul Haq told Arab News that the government was admitting that Sharif was seriously ill but was also creating hurdles in his way to travel abroad for medical treatment.

“The court has granted him an eight-week bail,” he added, “but the government is reducing that to four weeks and imposing an irrational condition. It is highly condemnable and we strongly protest this decision.”