‘Interior ministry directed to renew Nawaz’s passport’

Pakistan’s new government has directed the interior ministry to renew the passports of deposed ex-prime minister Nawaz Sharif and former finance minister Ishaq Dar, according to a media report on Wednesday.

The development comes as a debate in the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has begun on the return of the party supremo and the threetime prime minister Nawaz’s expected return from London after his younger brother Shehbaz Sharif became the new prime minister of the country.

Quoting sources, Geo TV reported that the Pakistani high commission in London has also been directed to start work on the renewal of the passports of the PML-N leaders.

Pakistan’s top investigative agency has opened an inquiry against former PM Imran Khan over allegations that an expensive necklace received as a gift during his tenure was sold to a jeweller for Rs 18 crore ($990,938) instead of depositing it to the state gift repository, the Express Tribune newspaper reported on Wednesday.

Pak foreign office rejects US-India statement

Pakistan on Wednesday categorically rejected what it called the “unwarranted reference” in the joint statement issued after the US-India 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue, asking Islamabad to take “immediate, sustained, and irreversible action” to ensure that no territory under its control is used for terrorist attacks. The Foreign Office termed it unfortunate that a bilateral cooperation mechanism was used to target a third country for political expediency and to mislead public opinion away from the real and emerging terrorism threats.