LONDON: Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi visited the British Home Office on Monday and held talks with UK officials to push for the immediate extradition of absconders Shahzad Akbar and Adil Raja.
During the meeting, Pakistani authorities presented a detailed dossier in support of the extradition requests, officials confirmed. Pakistan’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Dr Mohammad Faisal, accompanied the Interior Minister.
Following the visit, PTI social media accounts launched a propaganda campaign claiming the minister received harsh treatment in London. Several social media accounts of the propaganda machine widely shared video footage showing British security personnel routinely checking the underside of Naqvi’s official vehicle with mirrors, opening the trunk for scanning, and conducting a full inspection, standard procedure at high-security British government buildings.
The anti-state social media handles termed the routine security checks as “hateful treatment” and portrayed them as a sign of international distrust toward the Pakistani government. One viral post alleged the Interior Minister faced deliberate humiliation.
However, the social media users quickly dismissed the claims as baseless and false, exposing the PTI’s attempts to spread an anti-state narrative.
It is pertinent to mention here that such security protocols are applied to all visiting dignitaries, including British officials themselves and carried out worldwide.
The interior minister earlier met British High Commissioner Jane Marriott for a discussion on Pak-UK relations, security cooperation, and the repatriation of Pakistanis living illegally in the UK.
Mohsin Naqvi informed the British envoy that Pakistan has formally requested the UK government to extradite Shahzad Akbar and Adil Raja, both of whom are wanted in Pakistan on various charges. He stressed that their activities require urgent legal action:
Also read: Adil Raja ordered to apologise publicly to Brig (retd) Rashid Naseer by UK High Court
