ISLAMABAD: Pakistani Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmad said on Wednesday the passport of Nawaz Sharif, former Pakistani Prime Minister and head of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party, would be canceled on February 16.
The 70-year-old Sharif has been living in self-imposed exile in London after Pakistani authorities temporarily released him on bail from a seven-year prison sentence last November so he could travel abroad for medical treatment.
Sharif, who has dominated Pakistani politics for three decades, denies the corruption charges against him, claiming they are politically motivated.
This month, a top Pakistani court declared Sharif a fugitive from the law after he failed to return home to face additional corruption charges.
“[We] will cancel Nawaz Sharif’s passport on February 16,” Ahmad said while talking to reporters in Islamabad.
According to media reports, Sharif’s visa for the UK will expire on February 15.
In October this year, Prime Minister Imran Khan said in an interview he would contact his British counterpart Boris Johnson to talk about Sharif’s extradition.
Pakistan’s information minister told media earlier this month that Islamabad had started the legal process to reach an extradition treaty with Britain to pave the way for the UK to hand over Sharif.
Pakistan currently has no extradition treaty with Britain and there has been no immediate comment from the UK on the development. The process will likely take years and could face stiff resistance in British parliament.
Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz party is currently holding nationwide rallies alongside other opposition parties, demanding that Khan step down as prime minister.
