ISLAMABAD – Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s passport expired today (February 16), opening multiple options on the PML-N supremo to extend his stay in the UK, where he has been staying since November 2019 after getting permission for treatment from the PTI government.
The three-time former premier cannot apply for renewal of his passport since his name is on the Exit Control List (ECL). However he can fly back to Pakistan anytime.
Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed is expected to give a policy statement on the matter.
Last year in December, the interior minister had announced that the PTI government would not allow renewal of Nawaz Sharif’s passport. He had revealed that the former premier’s passport will expire on February 16.
Nawaz Sharif, who was serving a seven-year prison term after his conviction in a graft case in December 2018, was permitted in October 2019 to go abroad for medical treatment.
The Islamabad High Court (IHC), however, declared the PML-N’s supreme leader a proclaimed offender on December 2, 2020 after he failed to show up before a bench, formed to hear his petitions against conviction, despite several notices.
