Rehman Malik announces to lift ban on Pakistan Origin Card

Interior Minister Rehman Malik announced on Tuesday to lift a ban on Pakistan Origin Card (POC) that was imposed during Musharraf’s regime.
The POC is issued to overseas Pakistani’s spouses and their children who are not Pakistani and a marriage certificate duly attested by the respective embassies of Foreign Office will be accepted in this regard.
Malik said now all Foreign Missions, Nadra offices will be able to issue these POCs for foreign spouses and children of Pakistani nationals. He said this initiative of present government would help facilitate around 19,925 applicants who are asked to revalidate their POCs. Around 117,743 POCs have already been issued, he said. Malik said this is a gift for overseas Pakistanis whose contribution for the country is appreciable. The minister also announced the elimination of Black List due to which thousands of Pakistani were facing hardships. People whose names were blacklisted owing to possession or application for dual passports can get one passport with the submission of an affidavit, he said. He also announced to terminate Rs10,000 fine which was being imposed by Nadra for applying or possessing dual Computerised National Identity Cards (CNIC). The minister also announced that the passport validity has been extended from five to 10 years.