ISLAMABAD: Following approval from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the federal government on Thursday issued a diplomatic passport to Nawaz Sharif PML-N leader.
The passport was sent to the PML-N leader by the Passport and Immigration Office, and it was issued for a five-year period, according to sources.
Nawaz’s diplomatic passport had been revoked by the PTI’s previous administration after the court had branded him an offender.
An regular passport with a 10-year validity period was given to Nawaz in April, just a week after the PML-N assumed control of the government following a successful motion of no-confidence in PTI Chairman and then-premier Imran Khan.
When Nawaz’s passport ran out in February 2021, Imran’s administration declined to renew it, despite Sheikh Rashid, the interior minister at the time, suggesting that Nawaz may be given special travel authorizations to return to Pakistan.
Former presidents and premiers are allowed to keep their diplomatic passports under the law.
In October 2019, Nawaz received an eight-week medical bail, and a month later, he was given permission to receive four weeks of therapy overseas. He is currently in London.
Maryam Nawaz, vice president of the PML-N, hinted earlier this month that Nawaz will return to Pakistan because “no case is now left” in light of the Islamabad High Court’s finding that the ruling against the Sharif family in the Avenfield apartments case was “incorrect.”
Speaking at a press conference in London, Maryam stated that the party will shortly pursue legal action and that Nawaz would return to society after his “innocence” had been proven.
The broad hints from the PML-N scion that Nawaz would soon be back in the political spotlight came as former prime minister Imran Khan was moving closer to Islamabad, which was practically the political haven of the PML-N-led coalition whose influence in the provinces had been diminished by the PTI’s unrelenting electoral victories.
Sources had earlier stated that Nawaz’s attorneys were planning to remove legal snags on his road back to the nation as his party navigates choppy seas, in light of his daughter’s eventual acquittal in the case.
Recently, A global index that ranks passports according to the degree of international mobility enjoyed by its holders has placed the Pakistani passport as the fourth worst in the world.
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