LAHORE, July 6: The application of former prime minister Mian Nawaz Sharif for renewal of his passport has been referred to the Interior Ministry and the Foreign Ministry, a spokesman for Pakistan’s consulate in Jeddah told Mr Sharif’s son-in-law on Wednesday. Capt Safdar met the consul-general and was told that the application had been forwarded with a covering letter and now he should turn up on Saturday (July 9) to know what action had been taken by the relevant authorities.

He was also told that Ambassador Admiral (retd) Abdul Aziz Mirza was being kept informed of all developments.

According to Mr Sharif’s spokesman Farrukh Shah, Capt Safdar was also informed that the consulate did not have the machine for machine-readable passports, so he should bring pictures of the deposed prime minister with him.

It may be pointed out that Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed had said a couple of days ago that Mr Sharif and his family were entitled to get Pakistani passports.

Amir Wasim adds from Islamabad: The government has delayed a decision on the issue of renewal of Mr Sharif’s passport because of opposition from some of the main leaders of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League (PML) and other coalition partners.

Reliable sources told Dawn here on Wednesday that some leaders of the PML and other parties in the ruling coalition were perturbed over reports that the government was planning to renew the passport of Mr Sharif after holding ‘negotiations’ with him.

The sources claimed that some ministers and parliamentarians had approached Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain to seek party position on the issue. The sources said that some PML leaders were of the view that reports of “the regime’s contacts with Nawaz Sharif at this time could affect the party’s performance in the forthcoming local government elections.”

PML-N information secretary Siddiqul Farooque, meanwhile, claimed that senior PML leaders had asked Gen Pervez Musharraf not to issue passport to Mr Sharif as it could create problems for the ruling coalition. Mr Farooque further claimed that Chaudhry Shujaat, PML secretary general Mushahid Hussain and Chaudhry Wajahat Hussain had held a detailed discussion on the issue on Tuesday.