ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Government has seized 21 non-custom-paid luxury vehicles of the Qatari royal family from the compound of a textile mill in the suburbs of Islamabad that were brought into the country for hunting purposes.
The customs department, which seized the vehicles, has begun an inquiry into the matter.
Malik Muhammad Anwar, Punjab Minister for Revenue, confirmed to Arab News that the vehicles had been seized, but declined to provide further details.
In a letter issued on Tuesday, a copy of which is available with Arab News, the Qatar embassy in Islamabad said that the vehicles belonged to Qatari dignitary Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim Jabr Al-Thani, former prime minister of Qatar.
The embassy claimed that the vehicles were imported legally “for the purpose of hunting in Pakistan.”
The letter said that these vehicles were parked in ex-Senator Saif-ur-Rehman's premises in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad.
An official at the Qatar embassy in Islamabad who identified herself as Najma also accepted ownership of the vehicles but declined to provide more details.
The luxury vehicles, including Land Cruisers, BMWs and Prados, were parked in a deserted Redco Textile Mills building on the outskirts of Islamabad. Saif-ur-Rehman, a close aide of ex-premier Nawaz Sharif, owns the mills. 
Rehman did not return text messages and calls on his Qatari mobile number seeking details about the raid and payment of the customs duty on the luxury vehicles.
Arab News learnt from sources in the customs department that the 21 seized vehicles were part of a batch of 50 cars imported into Pakistan by the Qatari royal family three years ago for the hunting of houbara bustards.
The import duty applicable on all 50 cars was waived for three months by the then government through a statutory regulatory order. The Qatari royal family later neither paid the customs duty on the vehicles nor took them back to Doha.
The customs department has issued a legal notice to the manager of the textile mill, directing him to provide legal documents for the seized vehicles within three days. If he fails to submit the documents showing payment of the customs duty, a criminal case will be registered against the manager for keeping the non-custom-paid vehicles. 
Dr. Ikramul Haq, a renowned international tax counsel, said that the customs department under the law can confiscate the non-custom paid vehicles and a case of smuggling can be registered against the owner of the vehicles.
“The crime carries five-year imprisonment, fine and auction of the confiscated vehicles under the law,” he told Arab News, “but in this case, if the duty is not paid, the vehicles will be auctioned. I don’t see a criminal case being registered (against the Qatari royal family).”
Pakistan seizes 21 non-custom-paid luxury vehicles of Qatari royal family
Pakistan seizes 21 non-custom-paid luxury vehicles of Qatari royal family
- Customs duty on the vehicles was initially waived for three months, but Qatari royal family never paid it later
- International tax counsel says customs department can recover the duty by auctioning the vehicles
Belarus frees protest leader Kolesnikova, Nobel winner Bialiatski
- The charismatic Kolesnikova was the star of the 2020 movement that presented the most serious challenge to Lukashenko in his 30-year rule
- Bialiatski — a 63-year-old veteran rights defender and 2022 Nobel Peace Prize winner — is considered by Lukashenko to be a personal enemy
VILNIUS: Belarusian street protest leader Maria Kolesnikova and Nobel Prize winner Ales Bialiatski walked free on Saturday with 121 other political prisoners released in an unprecedented US-brokered deal.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has locked up thousands of his opponents, critics and protesters since the 2020 election, which rights groups said was rigged and which triggered weeks of protests that almost toppled him.
The charismatic Kolesnikova was the star of the 2020 movement that presented the most serious challenge to Lukashenko in his 30-year rule.
She famously ripped up her passport as the KGB tried to deport her from the country.
Bialiatski — a 63-year-old veteran rights defender and 2022 Nobel Peace Prize winner — is considered by Lukashenko to be a personal enemy. He has documented rights abuses in the country, a close ally of Moscow, for decades.
Bialiatski stressed he would carry on fighting for civil rights and freedom for political prisoners after his surprise release, which he called a “huge emotional shock.”
“Our fight continues, and the Nobel Prize was, I think, a certain acknowledgement of our activity, our aspirations that have not yet come to fruition,” he told media in an interview from Vilnius.
“Therefore the fight continues,” he added.
He was awarded the prize in 2022 while already in jail.
After being taken out of prison, he said he was put on a bus and blindfolded until they reached the border with Lithuania.
His wife, Natalia Pinchuk, told AFP that her first words to him on his release were: “I love you.”
- ‘All be free’ -
Most of those freed, including Kolesnikova, were unexpectedly taken to Ukraine, surprising their allies who had been waiting for all of them in Lithuania.
She called for all political prisoners to be released.
“I’m thinking of those who are not yet free, and I’m very much looking forward to the moment when we can all embrace, when we can all see one another, and when we will all be free,” she said in a video interview with a Ukrainian government agency.
Hailing Bialiatski’s release, the Nobel Committee told AFP there were still more than 1,200 political prisoners inside the country.
“Their continued detention starkly illustrates the ongoing, systemic repression in the country,” said chairman Jorgen Watne Frydnes.
EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said their release should “strengthen our resolve... to keep fighting for all remaining prisoners behind bars in Belarus because they had the courage to speak truth to power.”
Jailed opponents of Lukashenko are often held incommunicado in a prison system notorious for its secrecy and harsh treatment.
There had been fears for the health of both Bialiatski and Kolesnikova while they were behind bars, though in interviews Saturday they both said they felt okay.
The deal was brokered by the United States, which has pushed for prisoners to be freed and offered some sanctions relief in return.
- Potash relief -
An envoy of US President Donald Trump, John Coale, was in Minsk this week for talks with Lukashenko.
He told reporters from state media that Washington would remove sanctions on the country’s potash industry, without providing specific details.
A US official separately told AFP that one American citizen was among the 123 released.
Minsk also freed Viktor Babariko, an ex-banker who tried to run against Lukashenko in the 2020 presidential election but was jailed instead.
Kolesnikova was part of a trio of women, including Svetlana Tikhanovskaya who stood against Lukashenko and now leads the opposition in exile, who headed the 2020 street protests.
She was serving an 11-year sentence in a prison colony.
In 2020, security services had put a sack over her head and drove her to the Ukrainian border. But she ripped up her passport, foiling the deportation plan, and was placed under arrest.
Former prisoners from the Gomel prison where she was held have told AFP she was barred from talking to other political prisoners and regularly thrown into harsh punishment cells.
An image of Kolesnikova making a heart shape with her hands became a symbol of anti-Lukashenko protests.
Bialiatski founded Viasna in the 1990s, two years after Lukashenko became president.
