LONDON: Former Prime Minister and Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif has been issued a new passport.
According to reports, the passport was issued on April 23 by the Pakistani High Commission is London. The passport has a ten-years validity till April 2032. but is not a diplomatic passport. The “ordinary” passport was made on ab “urgent” basis. The former prime minister is expected to travel abroad any day.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had ordered the issuance of diplomatic passport to his elder brother minister Nawaz Sharif, who is expected to return to Pakistan after Eid.
Minister for Interior Rana Sanaullah said that a diplomatic passport was former prime minister Nawaz Sharif right and will be issued to him.
In conversation with the media after being sworn into the new cabinet, the PML-N leader regretted that “it is unfortunate that a person who has been prime minister three times is being deprived of national citizenship.”
Earlier, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) dismissed a petition seeking to stop the potential issuance of a diplomatic passport to PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif.
The IHC stated that the petition was based on unreliable material and said that it was frivolous. Disposing of the petition, IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah slapped a fine of Rs5,000 on the petitioner as the counsel was engaged at state expense.
Two weeks back, the federal government directed the Ministry of Interior to renew the passports of the former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and former finance minister Ishaq Dar.
Imran Khan’s government had refused to renew Nawaz’s passport after it expired in February last year and then interior minister Sheikh Rasheed had agreed to issue a special certificate if he returns home.
Nawaz Sharif left for London after being granted an eight-week bail on medical grounds in October 2019 and has remained there every since.
Imran Khan had repeatedly lashed out at Nawaz for going abroad for treatment but accepted that letting the PML-N supremo leave Pakistan was a huge mistake.
