What happened
According to Dawn, the Senate rejected a motion to introduce the Passports (Amendment) Bill, 2026, blocking an initiative to withdraw the automatic issuance of diplomatic passports to ministers of state, advisers, special assistants, and senior bureaucrats. The private member's bill was introduced by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Senator Faisal Saleem Rehman, alongside Senators Samina Mumtaz Zehri and Saifullah Abro.
State Minister for Interior Tallal Chaudhry opposed the measure, arguing that it targeted the authority of the cabinet without prior review. In response, Senator Rehman stated that diplomatic passports should be strictly limited rather than broadly distributed. Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Senator Zamir Hussain Ghumro defended the current status, noting that a minister of state serves as a representative of Parliament.
Key facts
According to Dawn, the draft legislation sought to amend the Passports Act 1974 by adding a new section with the following details:
- It proposed barring state ministers, prime ministerial advisers, special assistants, federal secretaries (excluding the foreign secretary), and director generals from obtaining diplomatic passports merely by virtue of their position.
- Current holders of such passports would have been required to surrender them to designated authorities within 30 days of the law's enactment.
- The proposal clarified that affected individuals could still obtain or retain official or ordinary passports for foreign travel, seeking to distinguish formal diplomatic functions from political rank.
Other Senate developments
Dawn reported that the Senate session also addressed several other legislative issues:
- The Consumer Protection (Amendment) Bill 2026 passed with a 10 to 4 vote despite government opposition. A tense exchange between PML-N's Nasir Butt and PPP's Sherry Rehman led to a walkout by PPP members.
- The Upper House unanimously passed an amendment to the Islamabad Capital Territory (Prohibition of Plastic Book Covers) Act 2026, completely banning all plastic book covers to eliminate legal loopholes regarding claimed biodegradable plastics.
- An amendment to the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) was approved, while the Islamabad Metro Bus Service Bill, 2026 was deferred.
- PTI parliamentary leader Barrister Syed Ali Zafar raised concerns over constituency revisions in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, stating the changes were made without hearing public objections.
Source: Dawn - Home · Published October 26, 2026 · Photo by charlesdeluvio on Unsplash