Islamabad: In the Senate session, the House unanimously passed the bill to amend the Passports Act 1974, demanding the immediate abolition of the permission to issue blue passports to children of government officials.
According to Express News, the Senate session was held under the chairmanship of Deputy Chairman Senate Syedal Khan Nasir, in which Senator Abdul Qadir presented the bill to further amend the Passports Act 1974 in the House. The Deputy Chairman Senate put the motion to a vote, after which the House unanimously passed the motion.
Either abolish the blue passports of government employees or give them to us too, Abdul Qadir
Senator Abdul Qadir said that the children of grade 21 government officers get blue passports. If an MNA gets elected, he gets a blue passport. We want to bring the same principle for senators. Either abolish the blue passports of government employees or give them to us too.
Children of government officers should not get blue passports, Law Minister
Federal Law Minister Azam Nazir Tarar said that a term in the National Assembly is considered a term of taking oath once. In the Senate, you do not get an official passport until you complete a 6-year term. The Interior Minister is supporting the fact that senators should also be given passports like the National Assembly. Children of retired government officers of grades 21 and 22 should also not get blue passports. The Interior Minister should also fix this issue.
Children of government officials should be stopped from being given blue passports, Talal Chaudhry
Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry said that he opposes giving passports to former parliamentarians. If children of government officials are getting them, then we should stop them. The issue of blue passports affects the ranking of direct passports. When we talk about visa-free entry with another country, they ask, do you have blue passports? We say, there are 75,000 blue passports in our country. We have already reduced the number of blue passports.
It is a mockery of us for MPs to get NOC from the Ministry of Interior for blue passports, Abid Sher Ali
Senator Abid Sher Ali said that MPs have to get NOC from the Ministry of Interior to get blue passports. As senators, this is a mockery of us, this is a violation of our rights, this is the time of our senators. Why should I get NOC from the Ministry of Interior to get a passport?
Cancel the blue passports of retired government officials and their children, Nasir Butt
Senator Nasir Butt also said that why should I take an NOC from the Ministry of Interior for a blue passport? This thing should end, there are 78 thousand blue passports in this country, they have also retired, their children also have blue passports, cancel their passports, they can rest at home.
Object to the NOC of the Ministry of Interior, Faisal Saleem Rehman
Senator Faisal Saleem Rehman said that the Deputy Chairman of the Senate should get a diplomatic passport, not an official one, the Ministry of Interior has implemented NOC for members of parliament. Members of parliament object to the NOC of the Ministry of Interior, the children of members of parliament get a blue passport, they do not get it after retirement.
Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry said that if the passports of former bureaucrats are invalid, then bring a bill and we will support it. No one had asked for NOC from them and no one asked for NOC from parliamentarians. If anyone asks for a passport, it is verified at a high level. The rules and regulations say that members can get a passport for two years.
Deputy Chairman Senate Syedal Khan Nasir said that why does the Deputy Chairman Senate not get a diplomatic passport?
None of the 30,000 blue passports that have been withdrawn are parliamentarians, Talal Chaudhry
On this, Talal Chaudhry said that the Law Minister is bringing a bill to withdraw blue passports from the children of former secretaries, blue passports will also be withdrawn from the children of former secretaries, whenever there is talk of visa-free travel from any country, they talk about official passports, none of the 30,000 blue passports that have been withdrawn are parliamentarians.
Senator Amir Chishti said that a senator’s daughter’s passport is not being made, Senator Zarqa’s passport has not been made for 6 months.
Senator Abid Sher Ali said that in the Home Affairs Committee, the Home Secretary said that NOC is needed, the Home Secretary said that I am accountable to the minister, not to you, I will go myself. The DG Passport said that I have instructions from the Home Ministry not to entertain anyone, do I need NOC from any institution as a senator?
Law Minister Azam Nazir Tarar said that we are all sitting here to serve the people. I have also come to know from some friends that no one needs an NOC.
30,000 blue passports were issued, make someone an example, Dilawar Khan
Senator Dilawar Khan said that if 30,000 blue passports were issued, they were issued by the department. Make someone out of these 30,000 as an example. An inquiry should be conducted into the period in which these 30,000 passports were issued. If an ineligible person got a passport, make someone an example.
Later, the House unanimously passed the Passport Amendment Bill 2026 to amend the Passport Act 1974.
Meanwhile, the amendment bill related to the salaries and allowances of members of parliament was withdrawn in the Senate.