Pakistan considers Nawaz Sharif extradition from UK

Imran Khan’s government is considering asking the UK to extradite opposition leader Nawaz Sharif, after the former three-time leader has refused to leave London and return to a Pakistani jail.

A senior adviser to Pakistan’s prime minister said Islamabad was mulling the request as part of the ongoing transfer of wanted fugitives between the countries.

Mr Sharif was ousted from power in 2017 over corruption charges and then jailed the following year in what he says were politically-motivated cases. He was given permission to visit London for four weeks of medical treatment in November 2019 and has since refused to return, saying he is still sick.

Earlier this week he broke a two-year silence and attempted to galvanise the country’s opposition in a speech railing against military chiefs acting as a “state above a state” to flout democracy and choose the country’s leaders.

Britain and Pakistan do not have an extradition treaty, but have in the past two years stepped up cooperation to successfully exchange several wanted criminals.

Mirza Shahzad Akbar, adviser to Mr Khan on accountability, said Mr Sharif’s extradition could be demanded in return for further transfers.

"It would be difficult for the British government if Nawaz Sharif being a convict continues to stay in the UK, their own laws do not permit such an act,” he said, Dawn newspaper reported.

Britain and Pakistan have recently sought to tighten legal cooperation and agreed to work more closely to stop criminals fleeing their jurisdictions.

A man who murdered eight members of the same family when he torched their home with petrol bombs in 2002 was one of the first wanted criminals extradited to the UK under the new agreements in 2018.

Shahid Mohammed, 37, fled to Pakistan after carrying out the attack with other men in Huddersfield. He was given a life sentence at Leeds Crown Court in 2019. The Foreign Office and Home Office both declined to comment.