Adviser to Prime Minister on Accountability and Interior Shahzad Akbar on Monday said that efforts were underway to bring back the absconding PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif from London.
Speaking during the ARY NEWS program, Power Play, Shahzad Akbar said that although they do not have an agreement to exchange prisoners with the UK, however, there are international agreements that could prove useful in bringing back Nawaz Sharif.
“We want Britain to deport the former prime minister because his visa for 185 days has already expired,” he said adding that the PML-N leader has filed an application for an extension in his visa.
We have put forward the entire situation before Britain’s home secretary and asked their authorities as to what treatment the absconding PML-N leader is currently undergoing and if this treatment is available in the UK alone, he said while detailing the argument the Pakistan government has put before the British authorities.
Shahzad Akbar said that Prime Minister Imran Khan has categorically directed to bring back Nawaz Sharif so that he could face legal proceedings against him like a common man.
He further said that the passport of the former prime minister is going to expire in February and it is possible that he may apply for asylum in Britain. The adviser compared the PML-N supremo with the MQM founder if he chooses to opt for asylum in the UK.
Nawaz left for London: Who allowed him?
It is important to note that the federal cabinet granted in-principle “conditional” approval to remove Nawaz’s name from the ECL. The government had asked the Sharif family to pay Rs.7 billion as surety bonds — equivalent to the fines imposed on him by an accountability court in two corruption cases Al-Azizia Steel Mills and Avenfield properties — in which he was convicted.
The PML-N leadership rejected the offer. While addressing a press conference after a consultation meeting of senior party leaders in Lahore, Shehbaz Sharif said that the incumbent government of PTI wanted to take ransom from the Sharif family in the name of an indemnity bond.
The Lahore High Court on Saturday (usually an off day) allowed former premier Nawaz Sharif to travel abroad for four weeks for medical treatment, saying the duration could be extended based on medical reports.
A two-judge bench, comprising Justice Ali Baqar Najafi and Justice Sardar Ahmad Naeem, started hearing the petition at 11 am and after multiple breaks and back and forth, delivered the verdict close to 6 pm.
In the court-approved undertaking, Nawaz assured that he would return “within four weeks” ─ a time frame that was missing in the initial handwritten undertaking.
Nawaz’s departure damaged PTI’s narrative?
Federal Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry has said that contact with the British government for Nawaz Sharif’s return and inquiry of medical reports are the right decisions.
نواز شریف کی واپسی کیلئے برطانوی حکومت سے رابطہ اور میڈیکل رپورٹس کی انکوائری درست فیصلے ہیں، تحریک انصاف کے بیانئے اور احتساب کے عمل کو نواز شریف کی لندن روانگی نے شدید دھچکہ دیا ، جعلی رپورٹس کی تیاری میں جن لوگوں کا کردار ہے ان کو نشان عبرت بنانا چاہئے
— Ch Fawad Hussain (@fawadchaudhry) August 22, 2020
In his tweet, Fawad Chaudhry said that Nawaz Sharif’s departure to London has severely damaged PTI’s narrative and the process of accountability.
Read More: Fawad Ch calls for probe into Nawaz Sharif medical test reports
Nawaz went to London after signing a deal?
There is a growing perception that Nawaz Sharif went to London after signing a deal with the establishment. Those who suspect a deal point towards the past. If the history of Pakistan is any witness to help then it may be true. No politically powerful person in Pakistan’s history has ever been punished in a court of law; convictions even if obtained in lower courts are almost always overturned by superior courts. The system simply does not have the will to punish powerful people- they argue. Nawaz Sharif back to Pakistan?