LONDON – A British tabloid claims that Pakistan has refused to accept an extradition flight from Britain taking 40 deportees from London to Islamabad amid a diplomatic row over former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
It cost England 300,000 pounds, The Sun said in its story yesterday.
The Sun report added that Prime Minister Imran Khan’s adviser on accountability Shahzad Akbar canceled the London-Islamabad bound flight at the last minute to demand deportation of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif from London to Pakistan.
In November 2019, the deposed PM flew to London after the Pakistan authorities granted him leave to travel abroad for eight weeks to seek treatment for various conditions. He sought an extension of his temporary release but the Pakistan authorities refused on the grounds that he had offered inadequate medical evidence – and ordered Mr. Sharif to return home. But the 70-year-old politician has remained in London on a ‘visit visa’ from where he has stepped up broadcast attacks on Mr. Khan’s government.
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After failing to get clearance from the Pakistani authorities, the UK authorities were forced to return the illegal immigrants to their detention centres.
Home Secretary Priti Patel was told she is “duty-bound” to return the fallen ruler, who has been residing in London for a year after being temporarily released from prison in Pakistan and given permission to leave the country for an eight-week trip for medical treatment.
The Sun wrote citing its sources that “Pakistan sent a warning that it need not accept illegal immigrants from London if Britain will not return its former PM who many believe is staying in the UK illegally.”
Mr. Khan’s adviser Mirza Shahzad Akbar wrote to Priti Patel on October 5 warning that Mr. 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”.
After a spell of silence between the two countries, Pakistan then withdrew permission for the extradition flight to leave the UK on October 20. The move prompted a letter, seen by The Sun, from Priti Patel to Mr. Akbar on November 20.
After pointing out that the UK government is subject to international law, she added: “Should the UK receive an extradition treaty request we would of course give it our full attention under the provision of UK law.”
Pakistan has publicly confirmed that the extradition flight from the UK was not given clearance to land but denied it was linked to the row over Nawaz Sharif’s repatriation. But the British tabloid claims Pakistani officials privately accepted that both the issues are related.
