Approves launch of e-passports
Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan on Friday announced six-month extension in re-validation of manual arms licences issued by the Interior Ministry.
Chairing a high-level meeting at the Interior Ministry which was attended by the interior secretary and special secretary, DG FIA, DG Immigration & Passports and NADRA chairman, the minister approved in principle launch of “e-passports”– a new digital travelling document for Pakistani citizens. The e-passport project would be fully operational by the year 2017.
It was decided that after the expiry of the extension date all manual licences would automatically stand cancelled. The extension granted would commence from June 01, 2016 and is aimed at facilitating all the genuine arms licencees to get their manual licences validated from the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA).
It was informed during the meeting that during arms re-validation campaign that ended in December last year, over 180,000 arms licences were computerised and validated by the Interior Ministry.
It was informed that over 8,000 licences were found bogus during the re-validation drive. The minister directed that FIR should be registered against fake licence holders and a detailed inquiry initiated.
Taking notice of media reports about various issues faced by the masses during the previous arms re-validation campaign, the minister instructed the Interior Ministry and NADRA to launch a proactive media campaign for creating awareness and to remove bureaucratic hurdles in the re-validation process.
The minister, in his remarks, observed that forgery and misuse of Pakistani travelling document caused huge damage to the national image and was a matter of serious concern.
“We will ensure elimination of the menace of human trafficking from Pakistani soil with the introduction of e-passports, a new digital document for international travelers in the future,” Nisar said.
He was informed that e-passport was amendable to accept additional information that may be required in the future and can only be added by Pakistani immigration and passport authorities.
The minister also directed DG-IMPASS to engage an in-house modern digital printing machine with newest technology on a permanent basis to cater to the needs of printing e-passports and to ensure quality control.