The wily British

Most Pakistanis are of the opinion that PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif is ensconced in his London Mayfair apartments through the kind courtesy of the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, British Home Secretary Priti Patel and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Indian tilt. That is fallacious. He is purely there as a foreign visitor.

However, Nawaz Sharif’s first visa was issued on his diplomatic passport for six months. After that,he got a visa on medical grounds which lasted for eleven months. After a total of seventeen months, the Home Office appears looks convinced that his malady was not serious, but over a year later he should have received adequate treatment by thedoctors of Harley Street, so there is absolutely no chance of his visa being extended by the Immigration Appeal Tribunal and possibly a quick slap by the High Court in judicial review that would show him the door.

Be that as it may, Nawaz Sharif’s further enjoyment of his Avenfield House residence looks curtailed unless, of course, he applies for an investor’s visa by investing in the British economy his hard earned £10m, or seek political asylum, as done by his former Finance Minister and Senator Ishaq Dar. Both of these options will destroy his political clout and consign him into political oblivion.

Considering the current circumstances, Sharif’sreturn to Pakistani is imminent and his party would want to create a mobilised situation of some kind of long march or short march to provide him with an occasion requiring him to return. Once he returns, Nawaz Sharif’s biggest problem would remain his criminal conviction, which has now been sealed after his non-appearance before the appeal court.

For Nawaz Sharif, yet another bolt from nowhere came in the form of a rather heavy decision by the London High Court against property tycoon Malik Riaz, when the court declared him corrupt and a money launderer while agreeing with the British government’s decision to refuse him and his sons future entry into the UK. Apparently, the two cases are not connected, but the presumed romance between Nawaz Sharif and the Modi-tilted British government is fractured through the attitude of the West towards money laundering and corruption. The financial trail of the Avenfield House apartments’ purchase is still to be chronologically explained by the owners. In addition, the British authorities also learnt about the staggering amount changing hands between Malik Riaz and Hussain Nawaz in the sale of 1, Hyde Park Place in one of the most sought-out quarters of the West End of London.

In their judgment on the matter, the High Court noted that Malik Riaz had not been criminally charged, but Nawaz Sharif is a convicted person with his bank accounts and properties situated in London.

As the wily British establishment takes a harsh position, possibly to shrug off the allegations of Indian collusion, the future of Sharif’s London hideout and his freedom are in jeopardy. The ultimate legal conclusion of the cases against him may trigger the process of his Avenfield House properties being confiscated, after unmasking the veil of offshore companies, creating a direct link with the Avenfield House judgement by Pakistan’s accountability court.

There is no doubt that Nawaz Sharif’s return will inevitably recommence the legal proceedings regarding his decade long prison sentence and equally long lasting lament about his terrible politics.

Barrister Iftikhar Ahmad is a Pakistani barrister, political activist and former military officer