Zubair Qureshi Islamabad
A petition has been filed in the Islamabad High Court against a possible issuance of a diplomatic passport to the former Prime Minister and leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-N Muhammad Nawaz Sharif.
The petitioner, a lawyer by profession, has asked the court to issue directions to the Federal Investigation Agency and police to immediately arrest him upon his return to Pakistan from London. Nawaz, who is convicted in a corruption case, has been living in London due to medical conditions since November 2019, when the Lahore High Court had allowed him to leave the country for four weeks for medical treatment. His younger brother and incumbent Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had given an undertaking that Nawaz would return within the stipulated time.
Later, Nawaz sought extensions to prolong his stay in London on medical grounds.
The petitioner Advocate Naeem Haider Panjutha, filed a petition in the IHC referring to media reports that said Nawaz was being issued a diplomatic passport on the instructions of newly elected PM Shehbaz. He specified that the instructions for the issuance of the diplomatic passport were given to the interior and foreign affairs secretaries.
