AFTER claiming for months that it will bring former prime minister Nawaz Sharif back to Pakistan from London, the government has decided to cancel his passport. Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid made the sudden announcement during a press conference in the capital days after he said he would check when Mr Sharif’s passport would expire. Sources in his ministry revealed, however, that Mr Sharif’s passport is set to expire on Feb 16, so it appears that the interior ministry will not renew his passport if such an application is made.
While many are saying that the cancellation of Mr Sharif’s passport will render him ‘stateless’, the fact remains that he is a Pakistani national and the deprivation of his passport simply limits his international travel.
Although Mr Rashid made the announcement as if it was good news for the government, it is unclear how this will benefit the PTI — as even the optics of the move to cancel his passport are confusing at best. A lot of noise has been made on the issue of Mr Sharif’s extradition from the UK, where he has been living since November 2019 after getting bail and government permission to travel abroad on the pretext of medical treatment.
Since then, he has been declared an absconder by the Islamabad High Court and an accountability court, and the government has vowed to bring him back. In this regard, several ministers and advisers have given deadlines of January 2021 and made tall claims about the “impending success” of their requests for his extradition to the British government. It appears that the government’s efforts to persuade the UK to remove Mr Sharif were unsuccessful, as no positive response has come from the UK Home Office.
Instead of contemplating its next steps in the matter, such as beginning a conversation with the British authorities about an extradition treaty, the government has rushed to cancel Mr Sharif’s passport — which means even if he wishes, he cannot travel to Pakistan. Not only is this an own goal, it is also a strange message for the government to give to the public about its intentions. Under pressure of their own deadlines, it appears the authorities have concluded that if they cannot somehow force Mr Sharif to return now, they do not want him at all. The passport cancellation is pure politics and will not impress anyone. If anything, it gives Mr Sharif a fresh excuse to evade the courts and remain in the UK.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1599018/passport-drama
Passport drama : edit in Dawn, Jan 1st, 2021
AFTER claiming for months that it will bring former prime minister Nawaz Sharif back to Pakistan from London, the government has decided to cancel his passport. Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid made the sudden announcement during a press conference in the capital days after he said he would check when Mr Sharif’s passport would expire. Sources in his ministry revealed, however, that Mr Sharif’s passport is set to expire on Feb 16, so it appears that the interior ministry will not renew his passport if such an application is made.
While many are saying that the cancellation of Mr Sharif’s passport will render him ‘stateless’, the fact remains that he is a Pakistani national and the deprivation of his passport simply limits his international travel.
Although Mr Rashid made the announcement as if it was good news for the government, it is unclear how this will benefit the PTI — as even the optics of the move to cancel his passport are confusing at best. A lot of noise has been made on the issue of Mr Sharif’s extradition from the UK, where he has been living since November 2019 after getting bail and government permission to travel abroad on the pretext of medical treatment.
Since then, he has been declared an absconder by the Islamabad High Court and an accountability court, and the government has vowed to bring him back. In this regard, several ministers and advisers have given deadlines of January 2021 and made tall claims about the “impending success” of their requests for his extradition to the British government. It appears that the government’s efforts to persuade the UK to remove Mr Sharif were unsuccessful, as no positive response has come from the UK Home Office.
Instead of contemplating its next steps in the matter, such as beginning a conversation with the British authorities about an extradition treaty, the government has rushed to cancel Mr Sharif’s passport — which means even if he wishes, he cannot travel to Pakistan. Not only is this an own goal, it is also a strange message for the government to give to the public about its intentions. Under pressure of their own deadlines, it appears the authorities have concluded that if they cannot somehow force Mr Sharif to return now, they do not want him at all. The passport cancellation is pure politics and will not impress anyone. If anything, it gives Mr Sharif a fresh excuse to evade the courts and remain in the UK.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1599018/passport-drama
Published in Pak Media comment and Pakistan