This refers to the news report ‘After its holder ceases to hold official position, Diplomatic passport to be surrendered within 30 days’ (August 3). The rules about surrender of diplomat passport are quite clear. Even though it is mandatory for all officials to surrender their diplomat passports once their tenure is over, many retired bureaucrats retain their passports and manage to get them renewed. It is true that these passport holders will continue to show reluctance and are likely to not surrender their passport (given the fact that these passports are a status symbol). The best method to deal with this situation is to cancel all such passports as soon as a person retires from his/her post.
There is another problem that the higher authorities must look into – misuse of cars with official number plates. According to the rules, car number plates are supposed to be changed as soon as a car is transferred from a retiring officer. However, this practice has been totally neglected. The authorities should confiscate those vehicles that have misleading number plates.
Mukhtar Ahmed
Karachi