Pakistan: Petition filed in Islamabad High Court against issuance of diplomatic passport to Nawaz Sharif

Islamabad [Pakistan], April 15 (ANI): Amid rumours of former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif returning to Pakistan from London, a petition was filed in the Islamabad High Court on Thursday seeking to prevent the expected issuance of a diplomatic passport to Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo, local media reported.
A lawyer, Advocate Naeem Haider Panjutha, filed the petition referring to media reports that said Nawaz Sharif was being issued a diplomatic passport on the instructions of newly elected PM Shehbaz Sharif, Dawn reported.
The petitioner contended that as Nawaz Sharif was "a court absconder who was convicted by learned NAB (National Accountability Bureau) Court for corruption ... it is violative of law, a mockery of the justice system and disgrace to the nation if a diplomatic passport is issued to a convict".
Moreover, the petition stated, that the country's courts had held that a fugitive would lose all rights a normal person was entitled to, adding that Article 25 of the Constitution had set clear standards against discrimination against citizens.
"All the ordinary citizens will be discriminated if a convict is issued a diplomatic passport which has so many privileges and immunities, far more than the ordinary passport," the petition said.
He also pointed out that Nawaz Sharif had passed "derogatory remarks against the serving military and judicial officials" at public rallies, which caused "disgrace, disrespect, injury and insult" to the Pakistan Army and judiciary.
Islamabad High Court Chief Justice Athar Minallah will hear the petition on April 18.
Nawaz Sharif, who is convicted in a corruption case, has been living in London on the "pretext of ill health" since November 2019, when the Lahore High Court had allowed him to leave the country for four weeks for medical treatment.
Nawaz Sharif's younger brother Shehbaz Sharif had given an undertaking at the time that the senior Sharif would return within the stipulated time. Later, Nawaz Sharif sought extensions to prolong his stay in London on medical grounds.
In August last year, Nawaz Sharif had filed an appeal with the British Immigration Tribunal after the Home Department refused to extend his stay in the country on "medical grounds" any further.
PML-N leader Talal Chaudhry on Wednesday said that Nawaz Sharif is expected to return to Pakistan "before the next elections".
Nawaz Sharif can legally remain in the UK till the tribunal issues its decision on his plea for his stay in the country. His passport had expired in February 2021. (ANI)