ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Wednesday urged the United Kingdom to repatriate former premier and leader of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Nawaz Sharif, who is wanted in many cases by the country’s top courts.
An informed source told Pakistan Today that the repatriation of Nawaz has become a source of controversy between the two countries, as British authorities have a history of ignoring Pakistani requests in such matters.
“The British Home Secretary Priti Patel has been conveyed that it is his responsibility to repatriate Nawaz Sharif to Pakistan, but the UK has not yet cooperated with the Pakistani government in sending Nawaz Sharif back,” the source said.
The source said that British Home Secretary Priti has written a letter addressed to Prime Minister Imran Khan and Accountability Advisor Shehzad Akbar, in which she has said that the British government would consider the request to repatriate Nawaz Sharif to Pakistan in accordance with the international law.
Earlier, Priti confirmed that if a formal request was received from Pakistan to send Nawaz Sharif back to Pakistan, the British government would pay full attention to it in accordance with British law.
Furthermore, the British home secretary also stressed that the British government is bound by international law and it could not do anything contrary to legal provisions.
Pakistan, the source said, in its request sent through the British High Commissioner, asked that Nawaz be sent back to Pakistan, but the letter sent to Pakistan by the Home minister shows that the UK will not consider deporting the PML-N supreme leader.
Minister for Interior Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed told media persons that during his meeting with British High Commissioner Christian Turner, he had raised the issue of deportation of Nawaz Sharif. To this, Turner said that Pakistan may submit a formal application for deporting Sharif.
During the meeting, the interior minister expressed grief on the death of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and offered his condolences to the royal family.
The meeting between the two also reviewed the progress on extradition agreements and the issue of red listing of passengers travelling from Pakistan to the UK due to the pandemic.
Rasheed said that Pakistan has an age-old relationship with the UK which it values very highly, but it was concerned about being put on the UK’s red list. This has caused anxiety among Pakistanis living in the UK and with the virus spreading faster in neighbouring countries, this treatment of Pakistan is discriminatory, he added.
Turner clarified that the issue of putting Pakistan on the red list is not a matter of discrimination, but of circumstance. The number of passengers going from Pakistan to the UK is the highest, he explained.
He said that the positivity rate among passengers travelling from Pakistan to the UK was also alarmingly high. Therefore, in view of the situation, Pakistan was put on the red list, he added.
During the meeting, the two sides agreed to sign the extradition and repatriation agreements between Pakistan and the UK as soon as possible. The two sides expressed their beliefs that these agreements were in the mutual interest of both the countries and progress needed to be accelerated.
Christian Turner said that Pakistan’s performance in terms of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) roadmap was commendable and that the UK would fully support Pakistan on the issue.
