After criticism on a bill seeking to allow the issuance of blue passports to former parliamentarians’ children, Minister of State for Interior Tallal Chaudhry has assured that measures would be taken to ensure that the travel document is used for “only official duties” abroad and issued for a limited time in most cases.
The bill, seeking the issuance of blue passports to dependent children under the age of 28 of ex-members of parliament, was approved by a Senate panel on July 10. If the Members of Parliament Salaries and Allowances (Amendment) Bill, 2026 becomes law, the legislation would place former members of parliament on par with retired Grade-22 government officers, whose dependent children already enjoy the same entitlement.
An official press statement released by the Senate Secretariat earlier this month noted that Chaudhry had “also agreed on the passing of the bill”.
However, he later claimed he had opposed the bill during the July 10 proceedings of the Senate committee. He said he had informed the Senate Standing Committee on Interior that the issue should first be discussed with the federal cabinet and other stakeholders. “Despite my reservations, they proceeded to pass the bill,” he had said.
He has now told that each application for a blue passport would be processed only after the interior ministry’s approval here onwards.
“Each case will be referred to the interior secretary, and if need be, to the interior minister,” he said. He also acknowledged that Pakistan had a “large number of blue passport holders”, which he said was a “major impediment” in the signing of visa abolition agreements with other countries.
“Our focus is on having agreements for visa-free entry with as many countries as possible,” he said.
According to Chaudhry, the number of blue passports issued in the country was brought down from around 70,000 to less than 50,000 in the recent past. “It will now be further reduced by 15-20 per cent,” he said. He said discussions on an agreement for visa exemption for blue passport holders are at an “advanced stage” with Saudi Arabia and negotiations with some other countries, including Italy, are also under way. Speaking specifically about the bill seeking the issuance of blue passports for ex-parliamentarians’ children, he said the fate of the legislation would be decided by political parties.
“A decision on supporting or opposing the bill is to be taken by the political leadership,” he said. He, however, added that the bill was contrary to the government’s intent to reduce the number of blue passports. He also suggested that if the purpose of the legislation was to bring former parliamentarians on par with retired Grade-22 government officers, then a “better course will be an amendment to take away the facility available to the retired bureaucrats”.
When PTI’s parliamentary leader in the Senate, Barrister Ali Zafar, was approached for his views on the matter, he said the blue passport was not a privilege that should be given to those other than individuals who genuinely required it for official state functions. “It is meant to facilitate official diplomatic responsibilities, not to serve as a status symbol or a lifelong entitlement,” he stressed.
“I opposed the proposal in the Senate to extend such passports to the children of members of parliament because it is inconsistent with the purpose for which diplomatic passports exist. Although the matter was referred to the relevant committee, where we were not members and therefore could not pursue our objections, we intend to oppose any such proposal again if it is brought before the Senate for approval,” he added. Zafar noted that “public office should be about serving the people, not creating or expanding privileges for public representatives and their families”.