Daily Times

The government on Thursday green-lighted the issuance of a diplomatic passport for PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif. Nawaz, who had been recommended surgery in the United States, had applied with the federal interior ministry for the issuance of a diplomatic passport for five years. Based on the application, the federal interior ministry had sought the input of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) on whether it had any objection to issuing a diplomatic passport to a former prime minister, a private news channel reported. After extended back and forth, which lasted around three weeks, the Foreign Office okayed the issuance of a passport. Thereafter, the interior ministry’s passport director general issued the passport. It is unclear by when Nawaz will receive the passport or use it. Former prime minister Imran Khan’s government had refused to renew Nawaz’s passport after it expired in February 2021 with the then-interior minister Sheikh Rashid stating that the PML-N supremo could be issued special travel documents to return to Pakistan. The former PM was granted eight-week bail on medical grounds in October 2019, and a month later, he was allowed to travel abroad for treatment for four weeks. He has not returned to Pakistan from London since.