ISLAMABAD, July 4: Chief of the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif is likely to get his new passport on Wednesday and two federal ministers said on Monday it was Mr Sharif’s right to get his passport renewed. Talking to Dawn, federal minister for Information Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said that hopefully Mr Sharif would get his passport soon. The minister also said that Mr Sharif was a Pakistani and it was his right to get the passport.
Also, Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao told media that Mr Sharif’s application for renewal of his passport had been received at the Pakistani Consulate in Jeddah and it would be processed in a couple of days.
Siddiqul Farooque, Information Secretary of the PML-N when contacted, said the son-in-law of Mr Sharif, Capt (retd) Mohammad Safdar, who had formally submitted the application of Mr Sharif and his wife Kulsoom Nawaz on Saturday, had been asked by the staff of the Pakistani Consulate in Jeddah to come on Wednesday when he would be informed about the progress on the application.
Mr Farooque said Captain Safdar had visited the Pakistani Consulate on Monday and he was told that the applications had been forwarded to the ambassador in Riyadh and the Foreign Office in Islamabad.
Replying to a question, Mr Farooque said that Mr Sharif planned to go to London for medical check-up soon after getting his passport. After the medical tests, he said, Mr Sharif could proceed to some other country, but his ultimate destination would be Pakistan.
In response to another question, he said that Mr Sharif had no serious disease, but was facing some problems related to blood pressure. He said that Mr Sharif was eager to return to the country and was expected to be among his people by the end of the year.
In the application submitted to the Pakistani Consulate and a copy of which was made available to Dawn, Capt (retd) Safdar said: “Earlier in year 2002, the consulate was approached for the same purpose (renewal of passport). However, the consul-general declined to accept the forms on the ground that written instructions were received from competent authority, not to renew the passport of Nawaz Sharif under any circumstances.”
It says: “Despite the passage of three years, the consulate has not informed us about any progress on the matter. You are, therefore, requested once again to renew the passports as per the fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan under Article 15 and the Passport act 1974.”
Ashraf Mumtaz adds from Lahore: PML-N Chairman Raja Zafarul Haq says the issuance of passports to Mr Sharif and Begum Kulsoom Nawaz will not change the party’s policy towards the government and it will continue to play its role from the ARD’s platform for the objectives set by the alliance.
Talking to Dawn on Monday, he said the Saudi authorities had prevailed upon the Pakistan government because of which the latter had agreed to issue the Sharifs their passports. The role of the Saudis, he said, was similar to the one they had played while taking the former prime minister and his family to the kingdom.
Asked about the Sharif’s future plans once they got passports, the PML-N chief said: “It’s a step forward towards their homecoming”.
However, he said, he was not in a position to set a timeframe. “The direction has been set”, Raja Zafar said.
Answering another question, the PML-N leader said with the Sharif getting their passports, one aspect of the injustice done to them was being rectified. “Otherwise, hardships or injustice done to them is now part of our history. It can’t be forgotten”.
He said as a matter of fact the entire nation had suffered as a result of what the government had done to the Sharif family.
Asked whether the government’s gesture could pave way for the unification of various factions of the PML, Raja Zafarul Haq said: “Not for the time being”.
He indicated that his party could go for “pick and choose”. He did not elaborate.
Raja Zafarul Haq believed that now the party would give a better performance in the local elections.
Punjab PML-N President Sirdar Zulfikar Khosa said it was the constitutional right of Mr Sharif and other members of his family to get Pakistani passports. By denying them this right so far, he said, the government had violated the Constitution and the law.
He said now the government could not stop the Sharifs from returning to their country. While a citizen could be prevented from leaving the country, he said, no one could be stopped from coming home.
