The Senate on Monday blocked a private member’s bill seeking to withdraw the free-for-all issuance of diplomatic passports to ministers of state, advisers, special assistants and senior bureaucrats, and rejected the motion for introduction of the Passports (Amendment) Bill, 2026.
The bill was moved by PTI Senator Faisal Saleem Rahman, chairman of the Senate Standing Committee on Interior, along with senators Samina Mumtaz Zehri and Saifullah Abro.
Opposing the bill, State Minister for Interior Tallal Chaudhry said the amendment targeted the authority of the cabinet. Senator Faisal responded that the bill was about diplomatic passports, which only ministers should have, observing that there should be no distribution in the issuance of diplomatic passports.
The bill sought to amend the Passports Act 1974 by inserting a new Section 12A restricting diplomatic passport entitlement of ministers of state, advisers, special assistants, federal secretaries and director generals. It provided that no diplomatic passport shall be issued, re-issued or renewed to such office-holders by virtue of holding office, with any already-held passport surrendered within 30 days.
The bill’s statement of objects and reasons noted that a diplomatic passport is a special travel document whose issuance should correspond to the nature and requirements of diplomatic or state functions rather than operating automatically as a privilege attached to rank or status.
The Upper House also passed the Consumer Protection (Amendment) Bill 2026 despite the government’s opposition, securing 10 votes in favour and four against. The bill, moved by Senator Zehri, was followed by a heated exchange between PML-N’s Nasir Butt and PPP’s Sherry Rehman, leading to a PPP walkout.
The House unanimously passed a bill to amend the law banning plastic book covers in the federal capital, removing an exemption clause that allowed its misuse.
PTI parliamentary leader Barrister Syed Ali Zafar raised concerns over the re-description of several national and provincial assembly constituencies in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, deploring that the revisions were made without hearing public objections. He demanded clear answers from the Election Commission of Pakistan and also expressed concern over the delay in appointing a successor to the chief election commissioner.
The House also unanimously adopted a resolution reaffirming Pakistan’s support for the right to self-determination of the people of India-occupied Kashmir on the occasion of Kashmir Black Day, observed on October 27.
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