News Desk |
British and Pakistan authorities’ different stance over a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for repatriation of the former finance minister Ishaq Dar, who has been declared a proclaimed offender in assets beyond means case, has baffled everyone.
Pakistan government has claimed that it has signed an MoU with the United Kingdom for repatriation of Dar, who was standing trial in a corruption reference filed against him by the National Accountability Bureau (NBA), before going to London without court’s permission.
“As part of the MoU, the British authorities will arrest Ishaq Dar and present him before an English magistrate. The process to repatriate Dar is underway and he will be here after completion of the process,” said the Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Accountability Shahzad Akbar on June 17.
Ali Dar said that his father has decided to take up with the UK Home Office the matter of the on-going media trial against him by Pakistani Authorities in relation to the purported MOU signed for his extradition.
However, British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt has clarified on Wednesday that “no extradition treaty signed by the UK would ever allow for politically motivated extradition”. The foreign secretary’s statement came during a joint press conference held with Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi in London on Wednesday.
UK Will Never Allow Politically Motivated Extradition: British Foreign Secretary
In response to a question, Hunt said: “Let me say it straightforward. No extradition treaty the UK will ever sign allowing for the politically motivated extradition.” Qureshi, in response to Hunt’s statement to the media, said: “Pakistan does not want to use extradition for political victimization, that’s not the idea.”
Pakistani media quoted Qureshi saying “we feel that extradition is important. And we have also discussed in my meeting with the [British] home secretary that the impediment […] was the issue of capital punishment and we have resolved that by taking a decision that we are going to make amendments in the Pakistan Penal Code to address this issue,” said Qureshi. He said that the extradition treaty will not be misused.
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The statements by the two dignitaries come in the backdrop of reports that an agreement has been reached between Pakistani and British authorities for the extradition of former finance minister Ishaq Dar to Pakistan.
Dar Visits UK Home Office to Talk ‘Media Trial’
Meanwhile, Dar on Wednesday visited the UK Home Office and informed the officials about how the Pakistani government was running a “media trial” in the name of a recently-signed MoU between the two nations.
Dar’s son Ali Dar told the media that his father has informed officials of the UK Home Office that the “Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government was maligning him via media and doing so using the British government.”
After arriving in UK, this was Dar’s second visit to the Home Office. Ali Dar said that his father has “decided to take up with the UK Home Office the matter of the on-going media trial against him by Pakistani Authorities in relation to the purported MOU signed for his extradition”.
Read more: Ishaq Dar hid financial matters from PML-N leadership
Previously, Ali Dar said, his father had visited the Home Office to inform them of the development pertaining to the cancellation of his passport on the orders of the former chief justice of Pakistan in September 2018, which practically left him “stateless”.