‘Nawaz has no plan to stay in London for long

ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister and PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif has no plan to stay in London for long as he will be admitted to hospital immediately after the current surge of corona pandemic in Europe is over and London hospitals start receiving regular patients.

Sources close to Nawaz told The News on Thursday evening that none from the British government or its Foreign Office has contacted the staff of the PML-N Quaid with regard to efforts of the Pakistan government for his repatriation from the United Kingdom. He doesn’t attach any significance to the statements made by government officials in Islamabad regarding their so-called impatience for his forced return from the UK. Nawaz will return to Pakistan as soon his doctors permit him to undertake traveling and his treatment is complete, the sources made it clear.

The sources reminded that the British government is fully aware of the justice system currently prevailing in Pakistan and the way he was ousted from the government and his family being victimized back in Pakistan. The British authorities would be provided the English transcript of the conversation of special court judge Arshad Malik along-with his videos, who handed him sentence. The jurists wondered that despite dismissal of the judge, how his verdicts are still intact. The judgement that disqualified him has also been questioned by the legal fraternity in Pakistan and abroad. The NAB laws are also in sheer contradiction to the universally-acclaimed principles of justice which say: “You are innocent until proven guilty.” It is prevalent in the British justice system that has been inherited by Pakistan and its other former colonies.

The sources reminded that in the absence of any extradition accord between Pakistan and the UK government, the process of a genuine case of extradition/deportation takes years together but such cases are seldom. Meanwhile, the sources said the countries where the death sentence is prevalent in their legal system, the British government doesn’t entertain any request for extradition. The sedition case that has been registered against Nawaz Sharif and other 43 leaders of his party in a police station near Lahore would come in the way of any such request of Pakistan for Nawaz Sharif’s deportation if the request is made sometimes soon.

The registration of the case proves the intent of the government towards Nawaz as sedition is liable for death penalty in Pakistan. Nawaz isn’t an asylum seeker in the UK, but ample evidence is available about the threats to his life on account of his political standing back in Pakistan. The sources made it clear that Nawaz Sharif will be returning to Pakistan within a couple of weeks and he has taken into confidence close aides about his intentions.