Former Pakistan finance minister Ishaq Dar won't be deported: UK government

The British government has rejected the online petition seeking the deportation of the former Pakistan Finance Minister Ishaq Dar.

According to Geo News, the petition seeking Dar's deportation was filed by an activist from the UK was signed by more than 80,000 internet users and made a number of allegations against him.

The petition alleged that Dar is an absconder "in a corruption reference filed against him by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) of Pakistan," and further referred to him as a corrupt politician. They urged the British government to deport him to Pakistan where he can be held accountable.

The British government, however, denied all the allegations against Dar and rejected the petition.

The petitioners were informed that the British government does not have a formal extradition treaty with Pakistan. "Section 194 of the Extradition Act 2003 does allow special extradition arrangements in exceptional circumstances.

However, 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 a crime. It would therefore be the Pakistani government's responsibility to initiate such proceedings," the petition committee informed.

The committee asserted that the petition was reviewed after getting 10,000 signatures, but was later rejected on legal and technical grounds.

This comes following the cancellation of the passports of Dar and his wife. The Pakistan government stripped Dar and his wife off of their diplomatic passports without providing the blue passport rendering them 'stateless'.

Ishaq Dar was supposed to surrender the diplomatic passports within 30 days of ceasing office as the Federal Finance Minister and that his passport was cancelled over non-compliance, according to the Foreign Office.

-ANI