Senate diplomatic passports will stay open to ministers of state, advisers and senior bureaucrats after the upper house blocked a bill to end the automatic privilege. The Senate on Monday rejected the motion to introduce the Passports (Amendment) Bill, 2026, during a sitting that also passed a consumer protection bill, backed a Kashmir resolution and heard questions about Khyber Pakhtunkhwa constituencies.
Senate diplomatic passports: what the bill proposed
PTI Senator Faisal Saleem Rehman, who chairs the Senate Standing Committee on Interior, moved the bill with Senators Samina Mumtaz Zehri and Saifullah Abro. Under the proposal, no diplomatic passport could be issued, re-issued or renewed to a minister of state, a prime minister’s adviser, a special assistant, a federal secretary other than the foreign secretary, or a director general, simply because they held that office. Existing holders would have had to surrender theirs within 30 days, while ordinary or official passports would have stayed open to them.
The statement of objects and reasons put the case plainly. “A diplomatic passport is a special travel document of the state, and its issuance should primarily correspond to the nature and requirements of diplomatic or state functions rather than operate automatically as a privilege attached to rank or status,” it said.
Why the House said no
State Minister for Interior Tallal Chaudhry opposed the bill. “You are bringing an amendment to the authority of the cabinet which you have not seen,” he told the mover. Senator Faisal replied that the bill was about diplomatic passports, which only ministers should hold. “There should be no distribution in the issuance of diplomatic passports,” he said.
PPP Senator Zamir Hussain Ghumro argued that a minister of state is also a representative of Parliament. The House sided with the government benches and rejected the motion, so the bill goes no further.
Kashmir resolution ahead of Black Day
The House unanimously adopted a resolution reaffirming Pakistan’s support for the self-determination of the people of India-occupied Kashmir, on Kashmir Black Day, observed today, October 27.
Moved by Kashmir Affairs Minister Amir Muqam, it recalled the entry of Indian forces into occupied Jammu and Kashmir on October 27, 1947, paid tribute to Kashmiris for their struggle and sacrifices, and called for a peaceful settlement in line with United Nations Security Council resolutions.
Consumer bill passes despite walkout
Tempers rose over the Consumer Protection (Amendment) Bill 2026. Moved by Senator Zehri of the Balochistan Awami Party, it passed despite government opposition, winning 10 votes against four after a second vote was allowed.
A heated exchange between PML-N Senator Nasir Butt and PPP Senator Sherry Rehman ended in a PPP walkout. Chaudhry opposed the bill, while Zehri criticised the government for opposing it.
The House also unanimously amended the plastic book covers ban in the federal capital, removing an exemption clause that could be misused. Senator Rehman said shopkeepers claimed every plastic item was biodegradable even though the country has no laboratory or scale to check such claims, and that the amendment means a complete ban on all types of plastic book covers in Islamabad. It also approved a criminal procedure amendment, while deferring the Islamabad Metro Bus Service Bill, 2026.
Questions over KP constituencies and the election chief
PTI parliamentary leader Barrister Syed Ali Zafar raised serious concerns over the re-description of several national and provincial assembly constituencies in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, made without hearing public objections. He argued that Section 22 of the Elections Act 2017 requires a transparent process with full public scrutiny. “The Election Commission of Pakistan cannot treat the law as optional,” he said. He also pressed the government over the delay in appointing a successor to the chief election commissioner, whose term expired in January 2025. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Tariq Fazal Chaudhry replied that the matter rested on a newspaper report, and said he would seek further information from the Election Commission.
The sitting showed the Senate in all its moods: blocking a reform, defying the government, and uniting on Kashmir. The privatisation bill debate and the PTI’s internal shake-up have kept parliament in the headlines, while Jamaat-e-Islami’s planned march and the CPEC review with China round out a busy national agenda. The full Senate report is covered by Dawn.
