Hectic efforts underway to bring murder convict to Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: The Interior Ministry is using all legal and diplomatic channels to bring Rizwan Habib Alvi, convicted by a United Kingdom (UK) court, back to Pakistan from Ecuador, the Interior Ministry sources said.
The story of bringing back Rizwan Habib from Ecuador is becoming quite interesting with each passing day. Once eager to reach Pakistan and to secure his release using foul means, Rizwan is now using every method to avoid his repatriation to his motherland. However, ceaseless efforts are underway to bring him back as he was freed illegally and was allowed to escape to Ecuador. It may be recalled that Rizwan Habib Alvi was convicted of murder charges in the United Kingdom in 2004.
In 2010, he was brought back to Pakistan using an international agreement with the United Kingdom on the exchange of convicts. Pakistan, along with some other countries, has a prisoners’ exchange agreement with the UK that enables prisoners of the two countries to complete their sentences in their respective countries. But these international agreements were grossly misused in the past, to free people of drug mafias and other elements involved in serious crimes without caring for the image and the repute of the country. The criminals involved in heinous crimes and other vested interests in connivance with corrupt officials of Interior Ministry were brought back under these agreements and were freed within no time. Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan soon after taking over the reins of the Interior Ministry took serious notice of these irregularities and ordered a probe into the matter. As the enquiry proceeded, the Section Officer concerned who was found guilty in issuing illegal release orders was sent behind the bars. Similarly, it was decided to re-arrest all the freed criminals so that their sentences could be completed.
It may be recalled that two convicts who were involved in murder crimes were brought back from the UK using the prisoners’ exchange agreement. One

of them Rizwan Habib Alvi immediately after his release fled abroad. He was traced in Ecuador. The interior minister
The Interior Minister was determined to bring back all such illegally freed criminals and directed the authorities to bring him back to Pakistan using every possible way. The authorities in Pakistan contacted Interpol for the repatriation of Rizwan. When Rizwan was being brought back to Pakistan with the help of Interpol, he scuffled with the authorities during transit in Brazil. The airline in view of security concerns and their safety protocols regretted to allow Rizwan and the accompanying team to continue their journey any further and resultantly Rizwan was sent back to Ecuador. When the matter was brought to the attention of the Interior Minister, he ordered a special FIA team headed by a Deputy Director to proceed to Ecuador and bring back Rizwan. When the FIA team took hold of the convict, he tried to cut his veins in order to avoid his repatriation. The FIA team had to extend their stay and to wait for the recovery of Rizwan. While he was being brought back, the convict on reaching St Paulo, Brazil attempted to use his methods once again and tried to scuffle with the FIA team. In view of the tactics used by the convict, Interior Ministry has now requested Turkish Airline to bring Rizwan back without any delay.
According to sources in Interior Ministry, Secretary Interior spoke to Turkish Ambassador Saturday who assured full cooperation to Pakistani authorities.
The Interior Minister is determined to bring to justice all the elements that were involved in misusing the international agreements. He said that they would never allow anyone to put country’s repute and integrity at stake nor would allow any criminal, drug mafia or other convicts to tarnish the image of the country. He reiterated his commitment that all the criminals involved in misusing the facility would be brought to book and a robust mechanism would be put in place so as to ensure that these agreements are not misused in future.