Former special assistant to the prime minister (SAPM) Mirza Shahzad Akbar has been assaulted in the United Kingdom, where he has been living in self-imposed exile since April 2022, according to information that emerged on Thursday.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) said in a statement issued at 9:50pm on Wednesday that Akbar was attacked at his residence in Cambridge earlier that morning. The party alleged that the attacker punched him repeatedly in the face, resulting in fractures to his nose and jaw.
“Local police have collected all details, and an investigation is underway,” the statement said.
Akbar, who served as accountability adviser during the PTI government, had previously been targeted in November 2023 at his home in Hertfordshire, when a masked assailant allegedly threw an acidic substance at him. Following that incident, Akbar wrote on X that he would not be intimidated and linked the attack to the Al Qadir Trust case involving PTI founder Imran Khan, claiming he was being pressured by security agencies to testify against the former prime minister.
In April 2024, Akbar filed a case in a UK court against the government of Pakistan over the acid attack and said he had issued legal notices to the Pakistan High Commission in the UK and other Pakistani officials. Pakistan’s Foreign Office, however, rejected the allegations in May 2024, calling them “preposterous.”
Separately, an Islamabad court has declared Akbar a proclaimed offender in a case related to allegedly controversial statements posted on X. Following the development, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi met UK High Commissioner Jane Marriott and formally handed over extradition documents concerning Akbar.
Although Pakistan and the United Kingdom do not have a formal extradition treaty, an existing arrangement allows British authorities to deport Pakistani nationals involved in criminal activity or immigration violations.
