Has Ishaq Dar applied for political asylum in UK?

LONDON – Former finance minister Ishaq Dar on Wednesday approached Home Office in London reportedly to apply for political asylum.

Dar, 69, is currently absconding from several cases in Pakistan and has been declared a proclaimed offender by the courts. He is facing charges of accumulating assets beyond known sources of income.

Dar was declared an absconder by the Supreme Court in 2017, when he failed to appear before it since he was in London, allegedly undergoing medical treatment. His absence was first attributed to ill health on Oct 30, 2017.

On Wednesday, the ARY News reported that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader reached the Home Office in London for the second interview, seeking political asylum in the country.

But the PML-N sources say Dar visited the UK Home Office only to inform them about how the Pakistani government was running a “media trial” in the name of a recently-signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the two nations.

Shahzad Akbar, the special assistant to Prime Minister Imran Khan on accountability, had said Tuesday the British government has agreed to extradite Dar under an MoU.

"Ishaq Dar will be back soon," he had said in a press conference after the cabinet meeting.

On the other hand, British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said Wednesday the United Kingdom would not sign any extradition treaty that could be used for politically-motivated cases.

Speaking at a joint press conference here with Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), Hunt confirmed the two had discussed the issue of an extradition treaty between the UK and Pakistan.