ISLAMABAD, 17 December 2004 — Pakistan has refused to issue a passport to the husband of former Premier Benazir Bhutto, who was recently freed from jail after eight years, officials said yesterday.
Asif Ali Zardari was released last month after the Supreme Court granted him bail in the last of the 17 cases of graft, murder and drug smuggling pending against him in different courts.
“Getting a passport is the fundamental right of every citizen but the government has denied this to Asif Ali Zardari,” Taj Haider, spokesman for the Pakistan People’s Party, was quoted as saying by AFP.
He condemned the refusal as a “childish act” and blatant victimization.
A passport department official in Karachi, where Zardari is currently living, said it had received an application from him but returned it on technical grounds.
“The applicant did not give the required permanent address in Karachi and he should apply for a passport from the place of his permanent address,” Azhar Hussain told reporters.
Information Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed said someone released on bail was generally not allowed to travel abroad.
“It is up to the court to decide,” he said.
After his recent release, Zardari demanded that President Pervez Musharraf hold fresh elections and has been trying to mobilize party supporters, many of whom have been lying low.
PPP officials said Zardari had planned to go to Dubai to see Benazir and their three children for the first time in nearly five years. She has been dividing her time in exile between Dubai and Britain.
The PPP argues that the cases against Zardari and Benazir, whose government was sacked on corruption charges in November 1996, are politically motivated.
Some analysts see the release of Zardari on bail as an attempt by Musharraf to address criticisms of his curbs on democracy through reconciliation with the liberal opposition.
Critics believe he is simply trying to mute criticism of his plan to go back on a pledge to give up his second post — that of army chief — by the end of the year.
