LONDON: A British Pakistani community group has questioned Home Secretary Sajib Javid’s intentions over signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Pakistani government agreeing to look into extradition request for Ishaq Dar, the London-based former Finance Minister of Pakistan.

At a press conference here, Barrister Abid Hussain of Community Leadership Foundation announced that a petition carrying around 4,000 signatures will be presented to Prime Minister Theresa May’s office as well several other officers including to cross-party parliamentarians in protest at Pakistani origin Home Secretary’s “barter deal”.

He said that Sajid Javid has violated UK’s commitment to human rights and fair justice by signing a MoU with the Pakistani government and sending him back will mean “nothing more than a political trial, further persecution and victimisation”.

Hussain said that there is clear evidence that Shehzad Akbar, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Accountability, is playing politics by abusing his position and public money. He referred to Akbar’s comments at a TV talk show, months before signing the MoU, in which he stated: “…in relation to the matter of Ishaq Dar, we need to get his extradition processed. We do not currently have an Extradition Treaty with Britain; however, it can be done on reciprocity basis. You should consider that we have upper hand in this ‘game’ as so far, we have already extradited three persons to Britain. In return we have asked them for Ishaq Dar and a few others. But he (Dar) is our top priority”.

Barrister Abid Hussain said that this statement “clearly indicates that Pakistan tried a barter transaction void of due judicial merit and UK’s high standards of justice, fair play and human rights”. He asked: “Why did the Home Secretary even entertain such a proposal from the Pakistan government. The Home Secretary should open up and be transparent and publish the details of the information he has been provided by the Pakistani regime on which he has based his actions and publish any legal advice sought and relied upon.”

“It is against this backdrop that this action by the Home Secretary Sajid Javid is most shocking and regretful given United Kingdom’s policy to steer away from politically motivated cases. It also calls into question the objectivity, rationale and reasonableness of the Home Secretary's actions. There have been cases relating to other Pakistanis involved in the most serious allegations of criminal acts of Murder, Human Trafficking and Drug Dealing, but never did the United Kingdom resort to signing such an MoU yet in Mr Dar’s matter, knowing the case is of a clear political nature and that too involving alleged non-filing of personal Tax returns for 20 years 1981 - 2001 (an allegation that Mr. Dar has denied stating he has never missed filing tax returns in 35 years to 2019), a MoU has intriguingly been signed by the Home Secretary.

The actions of the Pakistani government are not democratic and the recent banning of free speech for the opposition is a slippery slope hence the need for us to support Dar in order to get him heard and save him from continued political persecution. We are deeply concerned about the health, welfare, life and liberty of Dar, if he were extradited to Pakistan in pursuit of the current regimes policy of censorship and politically motivated incarceration.”

The petition, signed from across the UK, said that as British citizens of Pakistani origin they were concerned at the “anti-democratic actions of the current government engaged in a concerted campaign of political victimisation, media censorship, fake and bogus cases and politically motivated incarceration of opposing political factions within Pakistan”.

It said the government is doing so to silence any opposition to it and detract from the government’s own negligence, incompetence, mismanagement and malpractices in the area of good governance.

The petition told the 10 Downing Street: “We want to bring to your attention that the government of Pakistan is abusing our Home Office and the Home Secretary to further its aforesaid political goals and wish to highlight our concerns and objections about the Home Secretary Sajid Javid MP, unwittingly or otherwise, allowing the good office of the Home Department of Britain to be abused”.

It said the MoU was “a tarnish on our democratic institutions of government and is a cause for the reputational damage of the UK as a neutral and pro-democratic entity”.

The petition stressed that Dar saved Pakistan twice from the verge of bankruptcy and he is known for his efforts against eradication of global terrorism.