Prime Minister Imran Khan has issued directions to use all legal means to bring back PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif from the UK, with the Foreign Office and the Federal Investigation Agency assigned the task to take necessary actions in this regard.
The decision was taken in a meeting of the federal cabinet chaired by PM Imran Khan a day before an important hearing at the Islamabad High Court (IHC) regarding Nawaz Sharif’s petitions in the Al Azizia and Avenfield Properties references.
The IHC had asked the government to inform the court about the process of execution of Sharif’s arrest warrants through the UK foreign ministry.
In light of the prime minister’s directions, the government has tasked the Foreign Office and Federal Investigation Agency with bringing Nawaz back and has decided to write a fresh letter to the British government for the repatriation of the PML-N leader, who has been staying in London since November 2019.
On September 22, the IHC told the government that it had allowed a convict, Nawaz Sharif, to go abroad without informing the court and hence it was now up to the government to take steps to ensure the PML-N supremo returns to the country.
“The federal government allowed the convicted criminal to go abroad,” justice Kayani had observed.
Justice Farooq said it was the government that put Nawaz’s name on the Exit Control List (ECL) and later removed it from there as well.
“The government should have at least informed this court,” the judge had said.“We have to make a decision on the appeal and we are waiting for the appearance (of the convict). We will not pass an order seeking the return of a convicted man. You gave him permission to go abroad and hence it’s up to you now to take steps to ensure his return.”
Addressing the bench, comprising IHC justices Aamer Farooq and Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, additional attorney general Tariq Mehmood Khokhar said the Foreign Office had implemented without delay the court-issued non-bailable arrest warrants through the Pakistan High Commission in the UK on September 17.
Senator Shibli Faraz, the minister for information and broadcasting, said that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf came to power with the slogan of change in the system and accountability of the corrupt and it would not make any compromise in this connection.
Speaking to a private news channel, he said the government will utilise all legal ways and channels to bring convicted former prime minister Nawaz Sharif back to the country.
