Current Final

Tag: UK

  • ‘Tightening noose’: Ishaq Dar seeks political asylum in UK?

    ‘Tightening noose’: Ishaq Dar seeks political asylum in UK?

    Soon after Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) on Accountability Shahzad Akbar said the British government has agreed to extradite Ishaq Dar, it was reported that the former finance minister had approached Home Office in London “to apply for political asylum”.

    Dar, 69, is currently in London, “undergoing medical treatment”. He is absconding from several cases in Pakistan since 2017 and has been declared a proclaimed offender by the courts.

    He is facing charges of accumulating assets beyond known sources of income.

    With the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government continuing to claim Dar is only evading the cases against him since he has been spotted walking upright on the streets of London time and again, PM Imran Khan’s special assistant on Tuesday said the former finance minister “will be brought back soon”.

    A day later, a private media outlet claimed that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader had reached the Home Office in London for a second interview with regard to political asylum in the United Kingdom (UK).

    Rejecting the reports, a close aide of Dar told The Current that he had visited the UK Home Office “only to inform them about the fabricated reports in the name of a recently-signed extradition agreement between the two countries”.

    The source’s claim was validated when British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said the United Kingdom (UK) would not sign any extradition treaty that could be used for “politically-motivated” cases.

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

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    “Let me say it straightforward. The UK will never sign any treaty allowing for politically motivated extradition,” said the British official to which Qureshi added that Pakistan did not intend to use the treaty against political rivals.

  • Shehbaz Sharif applies for political asylum in UK?

    Shehbaz Sharif applies for political asylum in UK?

    Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Shehbaz Sharif has applied for political asylum in the United Kingdom (UK), a private media outlet reported on Wednesday night.

    According to BOL News, the opposition leader in the National Assembly, who is facing multiple National Accountability Bureau (NAB) cases of corruption and misuse of power as Punjab chief minister, has applied for political refuge.

    Soon after the report was aired, other media outlets made similar claims as another popular channel explained why one seeks humanitarian protection outside his or her home country.

    Social media was abuzz with conflicting reports when Shehbaz’s spokesperson Attaullah Tarar took to Twitter to clarify the situation.

    Rubbishing the claims, Tarar said Shehbaz will be returning to Pakistan before the budget session for the fiscal year 2019-20 in the National Assembly and Senate on May 24.

    He said that the younger Sharif had an appointment with a cancer specialist on May 8 in London and another one on May 14. “It is likely that he may be suggested a few more tests after which he will be returning to Pakistan,” he said.

    Earlier, Shehbaz himself had also said he would be back in Pakistan in a matter of days.

    “I have a few medical check-ups to attend to in the next few days and I will be returning to Pakistan after that. It could be much sooner than the budget session,” he had told a media outlet earlier this month.

    Shehbaz, a cancer patient, has been in London for over three weeks now. He has reportedly undergone various tests as part of his medical check-ups, especially for the pain he had developed while in NAB custody.