Lopsided affairs from London

"It has yet to be seen if Britain will deport the militants from the Bugti tribe, Altaf Hussain, Nawaz Sharif and Ishaq Dar and hand them over to Pakistan. There are still millions of people in the UK stuck in the old system. There is also an amnesty for illegal immigrants living in the UK. The question is why Pakistanis are being treated differently"

Great Britain is my second home. I have spent a considerable time of my life in different cities – peaceful as well as scenic – of Britain. I keep following what is happening there, most of the time it is the unpredictable politics, which keeps the country in the headlines.

When Boris Johnson was caught partying in the lockdown regime, I knew from day one that the scam will claim his scalp. Initially, he resisted, but within weeks of the case reporting, it did happen, and now he is a former prime minister. Other than domestic politics, it is the complex Brexit, which has kept the UK immigrants in a state of flux, opening a hell gate of illegal immigrants sneaking into the UK by boat from France. The newly installed British home secretary wants to divert the new refugees and economic migrants to African countries.

The UK media are full of reports that illegal immigrants crossing into the UK from Europe have gone up despite the deployment of a large number of security forces to man sea routes. But what made me concerned is the signing of a bilateral agreement on custody of criminals between the UK and Pakistan on August 17, 2022.

The agreement binds Pakistan to host convicted criminals or under-trial suspects and illegal residents of the UK. The violators of laws can be exchanged between Islamabad and London.

The signatories of the agreement are Interior Secretary to Pakistan Yusuf Naseem Khokhar on behalf of Pakistan, and British Home Secretary Priti Patel.  This is the fifth deal in the last 15 months that the UK has made to deport criminals and people wanted for immigration offences. British Home Secretary Priti Patel of Indian origin has signed such agreements with India, Nigeria and Albania.

I am not a fan of this agreement.

Consider: Such short-term contracts of expatriates came under discussion and criticism during the tenure of Interior Minister Rehman Malik, while the process was stopped once and for all during the tenure of Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan. The agreement does not serve Pakistan. The reason is Pakistan’s human rights record is not exemplary in the fields of fair trial, administrative and judicial process, harassment during interrogation and application of punishments such as the death penalty. In the last 10 years, if you read the precedents of decisions on bail from NAB, every tactic is used to wall political opponents and restrict their freedom of expression, which is impractical and against human rights. In such a situation, handing over political opponents to Pakistan in politically motivated cases is not without concerns and dangers.

In the UK, immigration has become part of political rhetoric, not just in the mainstream media, but a topic of discussion on social media and in the square and intersection. The number of illegal immigrants has exceeded 6,600, compared to this, 8,420 were recorded in the entire year 2020. The arrival of illegal immigrants continues.

The 1950 Convention on Human Rights guarantees citizens the right to life and property and personal liberties and gives the right to a fair trial and torture-free investigation of complaints and arrests. The 1951 Geneva Convention guarantees basic rights to political refugees, including their right to freedom of expression, political association and trial and investigation under the criminal justice system.

It has yet to be seen if Britain will deport the militants from the Bugti tribe, Altaf Hussain, Nawaz Sharif and Ishaq Dar from Britain and hand them over to Pakistan.

There are still millions of people in the UK stuck in the old system. There is also an amnesty for illegal immigrants living in the UK.

The question is why Pakistanis are being treated differently.