Sheikh Rasheed conditionally offers Nawaz Sharif to issue passport

ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed said on Thursday that Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) Quaid Nawaz Sharif was no more a Pakistani citizen as his passport had expired on February 12, 2021, ARY News reported.

While talking to ARY News, Sheikh Rasheed said that Nawaz Sharif’s passport had expired in February this year and legally, he was not a Pakistani citizen.

The interior minister said that he could apply for a UK visa on the basis of any other country. However, Rasheed offered that he would issue Sharif’s passport within a day if he is returning to Pakistan. He added that Nawaz Sharif could collect his travel documents within 24 hours from the embassy in the UK.

READ: DON’T ACT ON NAWAZ’S PLEA FOR DIPLOMATIC PASSPORT RENEWAL: INTERIOR MINISTRY

Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s troubles seem far from over as the British authorities have turned down his request for an extension in his visa.

The United Kingdom’s (UK) Home Office rejected the PML-N supremo’s visa extension application, the sources said.

PML-N spokesperson Marriyam Aurangzeb confirmed the news saying the UK Home Office in its verdict said Sharif can appeal the decision in a British immigration tribunal. She added the appeal has been filed by his lawyers.

READ: ‘NAWAZ SHARIF’S PASSPORT TO EXPIRE IN FEBRUARY, COULD APPLY FOR ASYLUM IN UK’

The sources said he is bound by the UK’s immigration laws to leave the country within a few days if he doesn’t file an appeal in a British tribunal, which will buy him time to stay in Britain. In case, they added, he decides to fly out of the country, he will have to approach the Pakistani government to seek travel documents.

The passport of Sharif, who traveled to London in 2019 for medical treatment, has already expired.