Pakistan to push for Nawaz Sharif’s deportation

Islamabad, September 30

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has asked relevant authorities to take steps to bring back PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif from London and to ensure that he faces the corruption cases pending against him in the courts, according to a media report on Wednesday.

The decision was taken at a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, the Dawn News reported, quoting a Cabinet member whose identity was not revealed. Khan asked the authorities to pursue the matter vigorously, the paper said.

According to the Cabinet member, the government had earlier sent a request to the British government for the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader’s repatriation. However, it would again send a fresh application now. Besides a normal application, a formal request for his extradition would also be made. “Although we have no extradition treaty with the United Kingdom, wanted people can be repatriated under special arrangements as we had also handed over some people to the UK,” the member said.

On Wednesday, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) said that it needs to be determined if 70-year-old Sharif was evading court proceedings on purpose.

Sharif’s exit from Pakistan is a “mockery of the system”, said a two-member IHC bench, comprising Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani and Justice Aamer Farooq.— PTI