LAHORE, Nov 9: The exiled Sharif family got passports on Wednesday with permission to go anywhere in the world except their own country. The passports are valid for three years.

Earlier in the day, a representative of the Sharifs was called by Pakistan’s consulate in Jeddah to collect the documents, but was sent back with the promise that he would be approached again once the government sent instructions for the purpose. The consulate phoned him again in the afternoon and handed him the documents. The family has completed some 59 months in exile and the government says they will have to stay out of the country for 10 years.

The former prime minister and his family plan to move to London without delay, as his son Hasan Nawaz is under treatment there.

Sources say Mr Sharif also intends to go to the United States at a later stage.

Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) president Mian Shahbaz Sharif appreciated the issuance of passports, saying it was the family’s fundamental right which should have been fulfilled long ago.

Talking to Dawn, he said that, though belated, it was a step in the right direction.

Asked if the former prime minister was leaving Saudi Arabia for good and if he would take part in political activities during his stay in London, the PML-N president said: “I don’t think any restrictions have been imposed on him.”

Replying to another question, he did not rule out the possibility of his mother Shamim Akhtar, Nawaz Sharif’s wife Kulsoom Nawaz and daughter Mariam Safdar returning to Pakistan at an appropriate time.

“My sister-in-law Begum Sabiha Abbas has already reached Pakistan,” Shahbaz Sharif said.

The Sharifs had applied for 20 passports. However, those whose passports were valid for six months have been returned the old ones.

New passports have been issued to Nawaz Sharif, wife Kulsoom Nawaz, mother Shamim Akhtar, brother Abbas Sharif, son Husain Nawaz, daughter-in-law Saira, son-in-law Capt Safdar, daughter Mariam and some children.

The passports were not machine-readable as those could not be issued without computerized national identity cards, said diplomatic sources. “The government relaxed various rules to issue the passports without proper documentation,” they said. They said it was the government’s prerogative to determine the validity period of a passport.

Syed Rashid Husain adds from Jeddah: According to sources, the former prime minister and his family would try to submit applications for UK visa on Thursday, although the UK mission closes on Thursdays and Fridays.