Govt writes to UK for Sharif’s repatriation

Pakistan has asked the British government to repatriate former prime minister Nawaz Sharif to serve his jail sentence for corruption in Pakistan, London-based Financial Times newspaper reported on Wednesday.

According to the report, Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Adviser on Accountability Mirza Shehzad Akbar has written a letter to British Home Secretary Priti Patel to deport Sharif, nearly a year after his release from prison on medical ground.

In the letter, the report said, Akbar wrote that Sharif “has been responsible for pillaging the state and I trust that you will be supportive of our efforts to bring those responsible for corruption to account”. He added that the home secretary was “duty bound” to deport the former prime minister.

Sharif left for London on November 20, 2019, around three weeks after his release on bail from a seven-year sentence for corruption. At that time, he was flown in a chartered air ambulance for the treatment in the UK for his undiagnosed illness that remains a mystery till this day.

The disgraced former prime minister and his family are embroiled in a slew of corruption cases with fresh charges popping up every day. Sharif and his party – the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) –however, claim that all these charges are trumped up and motivated by political vendetta.

Sharif has been declared a proclaimed offender by the court following his refusal to return to Pakistan. His brother Shehbaz Sharif and nephew Hamza Shehbaz are in NAB custody over corruption references, while his daughter, Maryam Nawaz, is out on bail and her London-based brothers have been declared proclaimed offenders.

On September 10 this year, Islamabad Accountability Court-II judge Azam Khan declared Nawaz Sharif as a proclaimed offender in a gift repository – Toshakhana – case after the PML-N supreme leader failed to appear before the court despite repeated summonses.

Earlier this week, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) was informed by the federal government about the publication of advertisement in two newspapers for summoning Sharif in the Avenfield Apartments and Al-Azizia Steel Mills references on November 24.

The text of the proclamations stated that Sharif was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment and fine. It added that arrest warrants were issued to ensure his attendance in court which could not be complied with. The proclamation said that Sharif should appear before the court on November 24.

In connection with the second reference, the advertisement stated that Sharif was granted eight-weeks bail in the Al-Aziza reference but the former prime minister did not appear before the court to follow the hearings on appeals after suspension of sentence and bail.

The IHC said that it was satisfied with the filed reports which said that Sharif was a fugitive and deliberately avoiding proceedings. The accountability court, on the other hand, initiated the process for confiscating Sharif’s properties and directed the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to make his arrest through the Interpol.

In the letter, Akbar urged Patel to use her “extensive powers” to deport Sharif, citing immigration rules that criminals sentenced to four years or more must be refused leave to remain in the UK, according to the report.

The Financial Times report said that Sharif did not respond to a request for comment, while the Home Office declined to comment on the matter. It added that a Pakistan official told the newspaper that the UK had not yet formally responded to the letter.