ISLAMABAD (AP) – Pakistan’s intelligence minister said on Friday that Islamabad has begun the legal process to reach an extradition treaty with Britain that would pave the way for Britain to hand over former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
The development comes after a top Pakistani court earlier this month ruled that Sharif, who lives in self-imposed exile in London, is a fugitive from justice for not returning home to face additional corruption charges.
Information Minister Shibli Faraz told the Associated Press that it was the responsibility of the British authorities not to allow “convicted criminals like Sharif” to remain there. Sharif was sentenced to seven years in prison in a separate case for corruption and money laundering in 2018.
“We try, we tried and we will try” to bring Sharif back, Shibli said in the interview.
Pakistan currently has no extradition treaty with the United Kingdom. There was no immediate comment from the United Kingdom on the development. The process is likely to take years and could face stiff resistance in parliament.
Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League party is currently holding national rallies, urging Sharif’s successor, Prime Minister Imran Khan, to resign by the end of the month for alleged misgovernment and failure to improve the country’s economy.
Khan refuses to resign, and the opposition has vowed to leave parliament and provincial assemblies in 2021 to force early elections in the middle of the term. Khan says the election will take place – but only to fill the vacancies left by members of the opposition.
Sharif, 70, who has led the country three times as prime minister, has fallen out of favor after the country’s Supreme Court fired him on corruption charges in 2017. Pakistani authorities have temporarily released him. on bail on the grounds of deteriorating health, so that he could travel and seek medical treatment abroad. At that time, another court allowed Sharif to leave the country for four weeks, with the option to extend his time abroad if he could not travel later.
Sharif’s bail later expired, and authorities later issued arrest warrants for him.
In 2018, Sharif was sentenced to seven years in prison for corruption and money laundering. This case was separated from the one pending against Sharif. He also appealed against his conviction, and the Islamabad High Court is to decide how to resolve the appeal in Sharif’s absence.
Sharif’s party lost the 2018 election, a vote that saw the popular former cricketer Khan become prime minister after his party narrowly won a parliamentary majority. Khan said he wanted Sharif to be brought back to Pakistan for trial.
Faraz said Sharif’s family initially threatened authorities that “if something happens to him, we will be responsible.”
“We did not want to take responsibility and we did not want to show that this was a personal case or that it was (a problem) of personal enmity,” Faraz said.