Pakistan rejects former premier Nawaz Sharif’s plea for renewal of passport

Tariq Butt, Correspondent

Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, who has been living in London for the past 16 months after being ousted from power but was later allowed to travel abroad on medical grounds, had sought renewal of his diplomatic passport but the government has denied his request and told him to return to Pakistan.

Sharif has written to the Pakistan High Commission in London for the renewal of his diplomatic passport. Officials said the request letter from Sharif came just a day before the expiry of his diplomatic passport on Feb.16.

In a two-line letter, he called on the mission to take all steps necessary in accordance with the rules and regulations to issue a new diplomatic passport to him.

“As you may be aware that Feb.16, 2021 is the expiry date of my diplomatic passport number BV5128363. It is requested to take all the steps necessary in accordance with rules and regulations to issue new diplomatic passport,” he said.

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The Pakistani High Commission wrote to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Islamabad seeking advice on the request, and it, in turn, forwarded the letter to the Ministry of Interior, which has sought details of Sharif’s medical treatment in the UK.

These details include the current diagnosis by medical doctors, name and address of the doctor under whom medical treatment is being received, copies of all the medical reports including tests undertaken in the UK with results of the tests, details of treatment received in the UK hospitals, details of ongoing treatment, details of payment made for medical treatment in the UK, and dates of visits and consultations made with doctors in the UK.

The Interior Ministry, in its letter, also asked Sharif to sign an attached consent form for release of medical information to the Pakistan High Commission in London.

The letter comes in pursuance of a decision by the Lahore High Court on Nov.16, 2019, along with the undertaking, provided by Sharif and his brother Shahbaz Sharif before the court.

As per the undertaking, Sharif had agreed to provide medical information to the government, which was also mentioned in the judgement of the Lahore High Court.