Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed
Islamabad … News Time
The Pakistani government has decided to consult further with the British authorities before submitting the extradition treaty with the UK to the federal cabinet for approval. An important meeting of the Special Ministerial Committee on the Repatriation Agreement between Pakistan and the United Kingdom was held at the Ministry of Home Affairs under the chairmanship of Home Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed. The meeting was attended by Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Human Rights Minister Dr Shirin Mazari and Advisor on Home Affairs Barrister Shehzad Akbar besides Secretary Ministry of Law, Additional Secretary Home and other senior officials. At the meeting, a special ministerial committee formed by the federal cabinet took an important decision regarding the extradition treaty between Pakistan and the United Kingdom. The committee agreed that further consultations would be held with the UK before taking the agreement to the federal cabinet. The agreement will be submitted to the Federal Cabinet for final approval after consultation with the UK. The committee decided that the extradition treaty with the UK would be signed in the best public interest. After the agreement, it will be possible to exchange criminals between the two countries.
The agreement would allow Pakistan and Britain to repatriate their convicted criminals. The agreement will only allow the repatriation of citizens who have been sentenced by the relevant courts. The first round of negotiations on a criminal extradition treaty was held in October 2019. If the government succeeds in concluding this agreement with the United Kingdom, then Pakistan will be included in the list of more than 100 countries that have this agreement with the United Kingdom and both countries can exchange convicted criminals. In the middle of last year, Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid announced that a draft agreement on the extradition of criminals from Britain had been prepared. The Home Secretary had informed the British Minister of State that he wanted to sign the agreement with the UK as soon as possible. He said that unfortunately taking advantage of the absence of agreement, several high profile criminals have taken refuge in the UK.
