Pakistan refuses to accept UK flight amid diplomatic row over Nawaz Sharif

LONDON: Pakistan refused to accept an extradition flight of around three dozen deportees from London amid a deepening diplomatic row over its former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, according to a report by UK-based newspaper The Sun.

The report said that Britain forked out £300,000 chartering a plane to take around 40 deportees from London to Islamabad. The flight to Islamabad was not given clearance at the last minute by the Pakistan government and the UK authorities were left with no choice but to take the detainees back to their detention centres.

Read More: Court nod sought to publish Nawaz’s summons in London newspapers

The international dispute is over Islamabad’s failure to persuade the UK to repatriate former PM Nawaz Sharif to serve his jail sentence for corruption.

Advisor to PM on Accountability Mirza Shahzad Akbar on Oct 5 wrote a letter to UK home secretary Priti Patel, and she had been informed Britain was “duty-bound” to deport Nawaz, who had been in London for nearly a year since he was allowed to seek medical treatment there in November 2019.

Read More: Govt seeks deportation of Nawaz Sharif from London

Nawaz 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”, Akbar wrote to Patel on Oct 5.

The letter urged Patel to use her “extensive powers” to deport Nawaz, arguing she was “duty-bound” to do so. It cited immigration rules that criminals sentenced to four years or more must be refused leave to remain in the UK.

It is pertinent to mention here that the government last year had allowed Nawaz Sharif to go to London for medical treatment. The PML-N supremo was declared a proclaimed offender earlier in September

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