Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) MPA Shamsa Gohar’s father, Muhammad Yousuf, who has been living illegally in the United Kingdom (UK) for the past 14 years received British nationality in 2004 allegedly on a fake Pakistani Identity Card arranged by his lawmaker daughter, Pakistan Today has learnt.
The matter has been taken up by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) which has started an enquiry involving the PML-N lawmaker and her brother Haider Yousuf.
According to FIA sources, Shamsa’s father had gone to UK on a PC (picture changed) passport which he destroyed on his arrival there and started living illegally. In 2004, the British government had summoned applications from illegal immigrants following which Yousuf applied for political asylum claiming he faced life threats in Pakistan which had forced him to flee to the UK.
Meanwhile, his daughter in Pakistan through her contacts got a fake ID card made through NADRA and sent it to her father, which he used in his successful asylum application. Till today, Yousuf resides in Manchester as a British national where he runs a tailoring shop.
Talking to Pakistan Today, Shamsa Gohar’s former second husband, Sarfraz Gohar, alleged that Shamsa’s father had gone to UK on a fake passport. He said in 2004, when Yousuf needed an ID card for his asylum application, Shamsa used her contacts to procure a fake one from NADRA which did not have her father’s thumbprint or signature. “They didn’t even go to collect the card from the NADRA office. She got it delivered to her home and sent it to her father in UK,” claimed Sarfraz, adding that Yousuf never came to Pakistan to get an original ID card. He said he had filed an application with the FIA which was conducting enquiry under FIR No. 353/2012. He said he had also filed an application with the UK border agency which was also enquiring the matter. He said he was Shamsa’s second husband and had recently filed a divorce suit against her because she was allegedly having an affair with another PML-N lawmaker.
Sarfraz said his marriage with Shamsa lasted for seven years and they had a 6-year-old daughter. He further said that she was first married to her cousin Abid Ali from whom she had filed for divorce and had registered an FIR No. 590/2005 against her brother-in-law Shahid Ali and husband Abid at the Old Anarkali police station.
Talking to Pakistan Today, Shamsa Gohar said all applications against her and her father were baseless and contrary to the truth.
“An enquiry is underway. The truth will be established once it concludes,” she said. She said her father was a tax paying British national and a registered voter. “He has been living there for almost 14 years and did not go there on a PC passport. My ex-husband is dispensing bogus allegations which are a pack of lies. He has come up with several other fake allegations in the past which were not proven in court,” she claimed. Shamsa said she had not committed any crime and had no involvement whatsoever in the matter.
FIA Lahore Inspector Chaudhry Ejaz Ahmad told Pakistan Today that Shamsa Gohar came to the Agency’s office on January 8 but did not record a statement, seeking a new date for the hearing. He said her brother, Haider Yousuf, also came in on January 9 and accepted that his father had been living in the Manchester for the past 14 years but sought a later date for recording his statement.
