ISLAMABAD: A district and sessions court in the federal capital on Friday declared former prime minister Imran Khan's adviser on interior and accountability Shahzad Akbar a proclaimed offender.
The court, in its written order, also directed to issue arrest warrant for Akbar, citing his failure to appear before the court despite multiple summons in a case pertaining to his alleged controversial statements on social media.
Meanwhile, the challan of case against him has also been submitted to the court.
The development relates to a case registered by the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) against Akbar in July 2025.
The court's decree comes a day after Pakistan formally commenced the extradition process for Akbar, residing in the United Kingdom since April 2022, with Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi submitting the relevant documents in a meeting with UK High Commissioner Jane Marriott.
During the meeting, Naqvi said that he "fully believed" in freedom of expression but no country can allow slander and defamation of the state and institutions from abroad.
Last month, the Pakistan High Commission (PHC) in London refused to renew Abar's passport with officials saying that it had been blocked by the authorities in Islamabad.
Akbar, a barrister by profession and former head of the government’s Asset Recovery Unit (ARU), left Pakistan in April 2022, shortly after the ouster of the Khan government. His name had been placed on the Exit Control List (ECL) but he managed to leave the country after the Islamabad High Court ordered its removal, ruling that the ban was unlawful.
Once regarded as Khan’s key anti-corruption czar, Akbar previously served as a Special Prosecutor with NAB between 2004 and 2008, where he worked on major alleged corruption cases involving Benazir Bhutto, Asif Ali Zardari, and Shahbaz Sharif, who is now the sitting prime minister.
