People close to Sharifs deny UK envoy sought relief for IK

ISLAMABAD: On August 18, British High Commissioner Jane Marriot called on PMLN President Nawaz Sharif and Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz in Murree. The party’s official account tweeted that their discussion centered on education, health, climate changes and other issues. A week later, social media was abuzz with rumours that she sought relief for Imran Khan. This caught many by surprise. A parallel story was also in circulation that Jane had taken up the matter of detained Lt Gen. (R) Faiz Hameed. While the former request was made to the Sharifs, the latter was discussed with the military establishment, which was annoyed at this. None of the two reports made it to the mainstream media, though it was a hot topic on social media.

A spokesperson said: “The British High Commissioner, as with all diplomats, routinely meets with leaders across the political spectrum.” He didn’t comment on the above-mentioned report. The News contacted a couple of persons close to the Sharifs. Both of them denied the diplomat making any such request. One of them laughed it off immediately. Another one got it double-checked and returned with almost the same answer. “She did mention IK [Imran Khan] very briefly but never requested to give him relief. The meeting remained focused on governance and economy,” said a source who is considered part of Sharif family. Asked if he was aware of any request for conversation about Faiz, he said it didn’t take place with Sharifs, to begin with, hence he was not in a position to confirm or deny it. [The News couldn’t verify it from other sources as well.] But the source recalled that Faiz was having close collaboration with the British authorities when he headed the ISI. The source suspects that Nawaz Sharif’s visa extension request in 2021 was rejected on the request of Faiz.

Nawaz Sharif, a prisoner under the then PM Imran Khan’s watch, was sent to the UK in November 2019 for medical treatment after he fell critically sick. He did not return and was declared a proclaimed offender in December 2020. While being there, he applied for visa extension. His application was not granted leaving him with the sole option of filing an appeal against this decision during whose hearing a person cannot be deported.

Meanwhile, a story appeared in Pakistani media about the rejection of his visa extension request. Sharifs thought Faiz leaked the news and none else as he was pressing on that. Besides, this was privileged information and in Pakistan, only some someone privy to this development would have known it. Incidentally, Nawaz Sharif had also rejected a tenure extension request made by the British authorities. When former army chief, Gen (R) Raheel Sharif was about to retire, sources say, the UK made a request for his extension, according to a source considered part of the Sharif family. Mark Lyall Grant, then UK’s National Security Advisor, flew to Pakistan to make a special request for extension to Gen Raheel Sharif. Nawaz Sharif, however, turned it down, according to the source. Mark had served as British High Commissioner to Pakistan from 2003 to 2006.