Federal govt's letter to UK for Nawaz’s deportation premature: legal experts

ISLAMABAD: The federal government on Tuesday sent a letter to the UK authorities asking them to deport former prime minister Nawaz Sharif to Pakistan a few days after the Punjab government decided to cancel his bail.

However, according to legal experts, the federal government’s move may be premature due to legal formalities not being completed before dispatching it, reported The News on Wednesday.

Legal experts say as the developments are taking place, it appears that the matter would be finally adjudicated by a high court.

Read also: Govt sends letter to UK authorities seeking Nawaz's deportation

“Before exercising the present option, the government has to go to the relevant court to get Nawaz Sharif declared an absconder and only then, it can approach the British authorities requesting his return,” former Supreme Court Bar Association President Kamran Murtaza explained to The News when contacted.

On the strength of such a court order, he said the government could ask London to send the former prime minister back. “There has to be a legal basis to make such a request.”

Murtaza added that by invoking Section 301 of the Criminal Procedure Code (Cr.P.C) the Punjab government had extended the bail granted to Nawaz by the high court for a specific period. “After the withdrawal of this facility, the government has to follow the legal options to get him back,” he said.

The high court order says Nawaz can approach the court if the government exercises its authority in an arbitrary and whimsical manner.

The lawyer said that the aggrieved party has the remedy to challenge the extraction of the facility by the Punjab government in the high court in the form of a writ petition pleading that the action was capricious and biased. “Thus, the issue will be ultimately resolved by a court of law.”

Murtaza further said that the grounds mentioned in the letter written by the interior ministry calling for Nawaz’s deportation may be relied only after the legal process in Pakistan is completed.

The letter by the interior ministry states that since Nawaz is a convict and his bail period stands exhausted, he should be expelled. It also said he should be sent back so that he serves his unfinished sentence in jail.

Another legal expert, according to the report, said that it was not certain if the British authorities would accept the request of the federal government made even after legal formalities because there was a recent precedent when they had turned down such a plea.

Read more: Punjab government asks Centre not to extend Nawaz Sharif’s bail

He said the government had tried to get former finance minister Ishaq Dar deported after he had been declared an absconder by an accountability court, his assets had been frozen and his passport cancelled, but the UK had dismissed the request.

In September 2018 the expert recalled, the British government declined Pakistan's appeal to deport Dar, citing the reason that Britain has no formal extradition treaty with Pakistan.

Letter sent to UK

Briefing the media about the cabinet meeting held on Tuesday, Dr Firdous said "The letter to bring a foreigner back home has been sent", referring to Nawaz who was allowed by the Islamabad High Court to go abroad for medical treatment last year.

Dr Firdous said that based on Shehbaz Sharif's reaction, it seemed that the letter written by the foreign ministry had arrived in the UK. She said that sending the letter to the UK authorities was necessary to fulfill legal requirements.

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government had earlier stated that the Sharif family did not provide medical reports to the provincial authorities in order to get extension in bail. 

Laws dealing with extradition

Section 194 of the Extradition Act 2003 does allow special extradition arrangements in exceptional circumstances, adding that under current law, an extradition process is initiated at the request of the government of the country in which the individual has been convicted of the crime. It would, therefore, be the Pakistan government’s responsibility to initiate such proceedings.

Section 401 of Cr.P.C. deals with the power to suspend or remit sentences. It says when any person has been sentenced to punishment for an offence, the provincial government may at any time with or without conditions which the person sentenced accepts, suspend the execution of his sentence or remit the whole or any part of it. Whenever an application is made to the provincial government for the suspension or remission of a sentence, it may require the presiding judge of the court before or by which the conviction was or had confirmed to state his opinion as to whether the application should be granted or refused, together with his reason for such opinion.

If any condition on which a sentence has been suspended or remitted is, in the opinion of the provincial government, not fulfilled it may cancel the suspension or remission, and such person may, if at large, be arrested by without warrant and remanded to undergo the unexpired portion of the sentence.

The condition on which a sentence is suspended or remitted under Section 401 may be one to be fulfilled by the person in whose favour the sentence is suspended or remitted, or on independent of his will. These provisions will also apply to any order passed by a criminal court under any section of the Cr.P.C. or of any other law, which restricts the liberty of any person or imposes any liability upon him or his property.

Nothing shall be deemed to interfere with the right of the president or of the central government when such right is delegated to it to grant pardons, reprieves, respites or remissions of punishment.

Where a conditional pardon is granted by the president or, in virtue of any powers delegated to it, by the central government, any condition thereby imposed, of whatever nature will be deemed to have been imposed by a sentence of a competent court under the Cr.P.C. and will be enforceable accordingly.

The provincial government may, by general rules or special orders, give directions as to the suspension of sentences and the conditions on which petition should be presented and dealt with.

Originally published in The News