Pak govt cancels passport of former finance minister

The Pakistan federal government has cancelled former Pakistan Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and his wife's diplomatic passports.

Currently in London, the couple will be unable to travel back to Pakistan to abide by the Supreme Court of Pakistan's deadline for him to make an appearance before it and for that matter before any other court, reported Geo TV.

After Dar became the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate of Pakistan in 2012, the two surrendered the blue passports and were issued diplomatic passports. The two continued to hold the same passports when he resigned in June 2013 as Opposition Leader and took oath as Finance Minister.

Ishaq Dar was supposed to surrender the diplomatic passports within 30 days of ceasing office as the Federal Finance Minister and that his passport was cancelled over non-compliance, according to the Foreign Office.

Dar, however, did not surrender the passports as he left for London for his medical treatment but requested for the issuance of blue passports, which has not been entertained yet. The Ministry has cancelled the passport for the former minister without issuing new passport making him 'stateless'.