Dar visits UK Home Office to inform about his ‘media trial’

LONDON: Former finance minister Ishaq Dar visited Britain’s Home Office to inform the authorities about the “media trial” being run by the Pakistani government in the name of a recently signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the two countries.

This is Dar’s second visit to the Home Office since arriving in the UK more than a year ago. When approached by The News, Dar’s son Ali Dar confirmed that his father “decided to take up with the UK Home Office the matter of the ongoing media trial against him by Pakistani authorities in relationto the purported MoU signed for his extradition”.

Ali Dar confirmed that Ishaq Dar had first contacted Home Office last year when his passport was “unlawfully cancelled through an order of the former Chief Justice of Pakistan in September 2018”.

Previously, Ishaq Dar stated that he had visited the Home Office to inform them of the development of cancellation of his passport which had left him practically ‘stateless’. It’s understood that Dar decided to approach the British government after the government ministers claimed that the UK government had assured them that he would be extradited to Pakistan to face trial.

Ali Dar confirmed that Dar informed the Home Office officials that the PTI government was maligning him through media, using British government’s name. The PM’s adviser on accountability Shahzad Akbar said that the UK government would arrest Dar soon, followed by his extradition to Pakistan.

On Thursday, British Home Secretary Jeremy Hunt announced that the UK would not sign any politically motivated extradition treaty with the Pakistani government. Three weeks ago, The News revealed that the UK and Pakistan had signed an MoU to look into the issue of Dar’s extradition but the UK had given no assurance to Pakistan, according to the government sources here.