Complaints about delay in issuance of passports echo in NA panel meeting

ISLAMABAD: Months’ delay in passport printing has been reported by applicants. The citizens who paid fees for “urgent” passports have also been waiting for months to get their passports.

In a meeting on Monday, the Interior Committee for National Assembly inquired about the delay in passport printing and the queries raised by students and citizens. DG Passport and Immigration Mustafa Jamal Qazi told the committee: “We received complaints about the delay in passport printing, but the reason was the dysfunctional and old machinery. Approval from the interior ministry with regard to the purchase of new machinery for e-passports has been got. Six new printers will come for printing of machine readable passports to overcome the delay in the passport printing process.” He assured that all queries related to passport printing would be resolved until September.

The committee also inquired about the capacity and capability of the Passport Department, to which the DG replied: “Additional counters have been set up in passport offices, the passport system is 20 years old, there were 20 printers out of which 13 have been functional for years.” He said the increased demand for passports led to the system breakdown.

“The issue of lamination papers was due to a dollar price increase, which has also been resolved. Twelve thousand fake Pakistani passports were received from Saudi Arabia only, and the fake passports issue needs attention”.

The committee was also briefed about the review of foreigners security in the country. Federal secretary for interior Khurram Agha while giving briefing the committee said: “The Interior ministry has reviewed foreigners security. The biggest challenge at the moment is of terrorism and forces are trying to cope with it.”