ISLAMABAD: A blue passport bill allowing official passports for former lawmakers’ dependent children under 28 drew criticism after a Senate panel approved it on Friday.
The Senate Standing Committee on Interior endorsed the Members of Parliament Salaries and Allowances Amendment Bill 2026, according to the Senate bill text.
The proposed amendment would entitle an ex-member of parliament, the ex-member’s spouse, and dependent children under 28 to a gratis official blue passport, according to the bill text.
Supporters framed the proposal as parity with an existing facility for dependent children of retired Grade-22 government officers.
State Minister for Interior Tallal Chaudhry denied supporting the bill. He said he had opposed it in the Senate and told the committee that the matter should first go to the federal cabinet and relevant stakeholders.
Senior Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader Khawaja Saad Rafique condemned the move on X and compared it with recent privilege legislation in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly.
Read: Passport Home Delivery Starts Through DGIP-TCS Deal
Journalist Fahd Husain called the bill “shameless,” while journalist Iftikhar Firdous described it as an attempt to secure “foreign escape routes.”
Historian Ilhan Niaz, a professor at Quaid-i-Azam University, said official and diplomatic passports should be limited to officials themselves.
Journalist Amir Zia said blue passports should apply only to officials on diplomatic assignments. The bill has not become law yet. It still requires further legislative steps after committee approval, according to local reports on the proposed amendment.
