ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and the United Kingdom have decided to finalize and sign an agreement for the repatriation of convicted citizens and criminals at the earliest, reported the state-owned Radio Pakistan on Tuesday.
The understanding was reached between the two sides during a meeting between Pakistan’s interior minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed and British high commissioner Christian Turner in Islamabad.
The two countries have been negotiating a criminal extradition treaty for the last several years.
The Pakistani authorities have frequently pledged to bring back the country’s former prime minister Nawaz Sharif from Britain who was found guilty in a corruption reference by an accountability court and sentenced to prison for 10 years in December 2018.
Sharif began his prison term in Pakistan but was temporarily released on medical bail and flew out to London in November 2019.
Since then, he has not returned to his country.
“It was realized that the agreement is in the interest of both the countries and there is a need to accelerate progress on it,” the Radio Pakistan said. “The two sides were also of the view that bilateral agreements will further strengthen cooperation between the two countries.”
The Pakistani interior minister said his country attributed immense importance to its ties with the UK.
The British high commissioner also acknowledged the “friendly and multi-faceted relationship” between the two countries while appreciating Pakistan’s assistance with the evacuation of foreign nationals from Afghanistan after the fall of Kabul to the Taliban in August 2021.
Pakistan and Britain to sign repatriation agreement on convicted criminals soon
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Pakistan and Britain to sign repatriation agreement on convicted criminals soon
- According to Radio Pakistan, the understanding was reached during a meeting between the Pakistani interior minister and British high commissioner
- Pakistani authorities have frequently pledged to bring back the country’s former prime minister Nawaz Sharif from London
Pakistan, seven Muslim nations back Palestinian technocratic body, stress Gaza-West Bank unity
- The National Committee for the Administration of the Gaza Strip was announced on January 14
- Muslim nations call for consolidation of the ceasefire and unimpeded humanitarian aid into Gaza
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and seven other Muslim-majority countries on Thursday welcomed the formation of a temporary Palestinian technocratic body to administer Gaza, stressing that it must manage daily civilian affairs while preserving the institutional and territorial link between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank amid the ongoing peace efforts.
In a joint statement, the foreign ministers of Pakistan, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Türkiye, Indonesia and the United Arab Emirates said the newly announced National Committee for the Administration of the Gaza Strip would play a central role during the second phase of a broader peace plan aimed at ending the war and paving the way for Palestinian self-governance.
“The Ministers emphasize the importance of the National Committee commencing its duties in managing the day-to-day affairs of the people of Gaza, while preserving the institutional and territorial link between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, ensuring the unity of Gaza, and rejecting any attempts to divide it,” the statement said.
The committee, announced on Jan. 14, is a temporary transitional body established under United Nations Security Council Resolution 2803 and is to operate in coordination with the Palestinian Authority, the ministers said.
The statement said the move forms part of the second phase of US President Donald Trump’s Comprehensive Peace Plan for Gaza, which the ministers said they supported, praising Trump’s efforts to end the war, ensure the withdrawal of Israeli forces and prevent the annexation of the occupied West Bank.
The top leaders of all eight Muslim countries attended a meeting with Trump in New York last September, shortly before he unveiled the Gaza peace plan.
The ministers also called for the consolidation of the ceasefire, unimpeded humanitarian aid into Gaza, early recovery and reconstruction and the eventual return of the Palestinian Authority to administer the territory, leading to a just and sustainable peace based on UN resolutions and a two-state solution on pre-1967 lines with East Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital.
