ISLAMABAD, March 12: Pakistan has finalised the draft of a treaty to be signed with the United Kingdom for exchange of people wanted in different cases, a senior official in the interior ministry told Dawn on Sunday.

He said the draft had been sent to the British government to seek its concurrence. “We will make arrangements for signing the treaty after the document is approved by the British authorities,” the official said, adding that the government of Pakistan was waiting for a response from the UK.

The government of Pakistan, he said, had finalised the draft in 2005 but due to some reservations expressed by the British authorities it could not be signed that year.

He said that keeping in view the reservations some changes had been made in the document. He expressed the hope that the British authorities would have no objections to the draft and it would be signed soon.

Responding to a question about the scope of the treaty, the official said it would be similar to the extradition treaties signed by Pakistan with other countries, except some minor differences.

The official said that both the government had been striving hard for extradition of former chief minister Sindh Abdullah Shah, former federal secretary Salman Farooqi and some other people from the UK.