Passport issuing authorities have failed in overcoming the severe crisis in the issuance of passports, as dozens of passport-seekers can still be seen standing in long queues at all passport offices across the country.
Though newly-appointed Passport Office Director General Zulfikar Cheema has made some arrangements for lamination papers to ease the pressure of the backlog, but it is still increasing day-by-day with over 900,000 applications still lying pending with the authorities.
“We receive around 20,000 applications on an average daily… while due to the shortage of lamination papers and other technical problems we can hardly issue 3,000 to 3,500 passports daily,” a senior officer said.
On a visit to the main Passport Office in G-8 Islamabad, the correspondent met dozens of passport seekers, who had been visiting the office to collect their passports for the last many months.
“I applied in January… initially I was told my passport will be issued in eight days, but I don’t know when I’ll be issued my document,” said Hasan Ahmed, who came from Faisalabad to receive his passport.
Ahmed, who wants to go to the Middle East in search of greener pastures, told Pakistan Today that he had been running from pillar to post since the last four months to get his passport, but to no avail.
Ali Nawaz, another seeker, said he applied for a passport two month ago, but it had still not been issued. “This is my third visit to this office… today I was told that my passport is in the final stage and will be issued on Monday.”
Those who have been visiting the Directorate since the past many months have penned their hopes on the newly-appointed DG.
The crisis started six months ago when some top bureaucrats, backed by important political figures, created an artificial shortage of lamination papers.
At that time, no heed was paid towards purchasing lamination papers but the authorities concerned had rather tried to get the passport office declared an autonomous body in the name of overcoming the crisis. However, the interim government shattered their dreams by appointing an upright and honest officer as the DG.
The new DG, Cheema, is known for his integrity and honesty. When asked, he said “operation cleansing” in the organisation was underway.
“As you know, I took charge of the office recently … but in this short spam of time I have taken several steps to improve the performance of my organisation.”
He said a helpline (0800-34477) had been set up to facilitate the people in this regard, adding that by calling the helpline, people could get themselves updated about the statuses of their passports.
“We have eliminated the tout mafia…now an operation is underway against the rotten eggs and those who had been appointed illegally. Let me make it clear, service delivery is improving day-by-day,” the DG added.
Cheema said the passport office was on the verge of being closed when he was given charge, “but now things have changed”.
He said special arrangements had been made to provide security-cleared lamination papers for at least 0.3 million passports.
The passport office recently got the prime minister’s approval for the purchase 1,500,000 lamination papers. However, the two main international companies, who provide lamination papers, are busy in litigation.
“Once the litigation process ends… we will manage to overcome this crisis,” the senior officer said.