TIL Desk/World/Islamabad/ The Pakistani government has initiated a process of seeking extradition of its former ambassador to the US Hussain Haqqani on allegations of embezzlement following its failure to get him through Interpol.
The Interior Ministry has transferred a 355-page extradition dossier to Pakistan’s Foreign Office, which will be sent to the State Department for Haqqani’s extradition. Haqqani, who served as ambassador from 2008 to 2011 in US, was removed from office for his alleged role in the “Memogate” issue.
The controversy revolved around a memorandum ostensibly seeking help from the Obama administration in the wake of the US raid that killed Osama bin Laden to avert a military takeover in Pakistan.
In January 2018, Chief Justice Saqib Nisar had reopened the Memogate case based on a petition filed in November 2011 by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and several others and demanded that Haqqani be produced before the Supreme Court.
The Federal Investigation Agency registered a case for embezzlement of $2 million against Haqqani in March 2018 relating to his tenure as ambassador, expecting that a criminal charge would result in Interpol acting against Haqqani.