# Diplomatic passports: Senate blocks bill to stop issuing them to state ministers, advisers and secretaries

Source: Searchable (https://searchable.pk/news/politics/diplomatic-passports-senate-blocks-bill-to-stop-issuing-them-to-state-ministers)
Type: News article
Author: Searchable Editorial
Published: 27 Oct 2026
Updated: 27 Oct 2026
Retrieved: 27 Oct 2026

> A private bill would have taken red passports away from ministers of state, PM's advisers, special assistants, federal secretaries and DGs. The House refused to let it be introduced.

**The Senate on Monday refused to let a bill be introduced that would have stopped diplomatic passports being issued to ministers of state, advisers and senior bureaucrats**, [Dawn reported](https://www.dawn.com/news/2040000/senate-blocks-move-to-withdraw-diplomatic-passport-privileges-from-state-ministers-advisers). The House rejected the motion to introduce the Passports (Amendment) Bill, 2026.

## What the bill proposed

Moved by PTI Senator Faisal Saleem Rahman, who chairs the Senate's interior committee, with Senators Samina Mumtaz Zehri and Saifullah Abro, the bill would have added a new Section 12A to the Passports Act 1974. Under it, no diplomatic passport would be issued, reissued or renewed just because a person holds one of these offices:

- minister of state
- adviser to the prime minister
- special assistant to the prime minister
- federal secretary (except the foreign secretary)
- director general

Anyone already holding one would have had **30 days to surrender it**. They could still hold an ordinary or official passport, and people whose job is actually diplomatic would keep their entitlement. The bill argued that a diplomatic passport "should primarily correspond to the nature and requirements of diplomatic or state functions rather than operate automatically as a privilege attached to rank".

## Why it failed

State Minister for Interior Tallal Chaudhry opposed it, saying it amended the cabinet's authority. PPP Senator Zamir Hussain Ghumro argued that a minister of state is also a representative of Parliament. Diplomatic passports for these office holders are allowed under the Passports Rules 2021.

## Also in the Senate

The House passed the Consumer Protection (Amendment) Bill 2026, moved by BAP's Senator Zehri, by 10 votes to 4 despite the government's opposition, after a heated exchange between PML-N's Nasir Butt and PPP's Sherry Rehman led to a PPP walkout. It also unanimously passed an amendment closing an exemption in Islamabad's ban on plastic book covers.

## Your own passport

The bill only touched the red diplomatic passport. For an ordinary passport, the fee depends on the number of pages and how fast you need it: our [passport fee calculator](/tools/government/passport-fee-calculator) gives the current amount.

## Sources

- Senate blocks move to withdraw diplomatic passport privileges from state ministers, advisers (Dawn): https://www.dawn.com/news/2040000/senate-blocks-move-to-withdraw-diplomatic-passport-privileges-from-state-ministers-advisers

How to cite: "Diplomatic passports: Senate blocks bill to stop issuing them to state ministers, advisers and secretaries", Searchable, 27 Oct 2026, https://searchable.pk/news/politics/diplomatic-passports-senate-blocks-bill-to-stop-issuing-them-to-state-ministers