February 11, 2002	Monday	Ziqa’ad 27, 1422

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ISLAMABAD, Feb 10: Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates have finalized the draft law for the extradition treaty, allowing both the countries to seek the extradition of those convicted or wanted by courts in Pakistan, Dawn learnt from official sources.

Officials of Pakistan and the UAE have held a number of meetings in the past and a final meeting in which the treaty is expected to take a concrete shape, is slated to be held by the end of February or early March this year.

Under the provision of this treaty, if any criminal of Pakistani citizenship is found on the UAE territory, the government of UAE, in accordance with the treaty, would proceed against that person and deport him/her after completing the necessary investigations.

Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, who had been awarded three years imprisonment by an accountability court and is wanted in a number of other cases, is residing in the UAE and UK for the past many years.

Pakistan has extradition treaties with 25 countries and on the demand of the NAB, it decided to widen the extradition scope by entering into treaties with 12 more countries.

The NAB is facing difficulty in bringing back the white-collar criminals who are residing in foreign countries after amassing money during the time they held public office.

Interpol, which had been contacted a number of times, had expressed its inability to cooperate in apprehending politicians required in cases of money laundering due to non-signing of extradition treaties with those countries.