PM orders clearance of 7000,00 pending passports
Thursday, March 28th, 2013 3:39:21 by Tahir Khan
Prime Minister Justice (R) Mir Hazar Khan Khoso on Thursday directed the Ministry of Interior to immediately clear the pending passports so that the common man is provided relief.
The Prime Minister issued the instructions at a briefing in Islamabad in view of the Interior Ministry’s failure to issue passports on time, the PM office said.
In response to the Prime Minister’s query over reports regarding delay in the processing of the passport applications, he was informed that 6,000,00 applications for renewal of passports were pending because of shortage of laminate pads.
In this connection, Secretary Interior Khwaja Saddique informed the Prime Minister that tenders for laminate pads have been concluded and the firm whose bids were found to be the lowest has promised to provide 5,000,00 laminate pads within a week.
The Secretary Interior assured the Prime Minster that in compliance to his instructions every efforts will be made to improve the situation within a week.
The Prime Minister was informed that the Ministry of Interior was fully geared-up and was making all necessary arrangements including collection and pooling of intelligence and round the clock monitoring of the situation with the objective of maintaining peace during the election campaign and on the Election Day.
The Prime Minister was also informed that 85,000 poling station are likely to be established for holding of elections. In this connection, sensitive polling stations and areas will be identified so that the polling can be carried out peacefully in those places.
The Prime Minister said the general election is a big challenge and directed that the administration and law-enforcement agencies should remain alert and impartial to ensure that the forthcoming elections are fair in every possible manner.
The Prime Minister said that he is committed to holding of free and fair general elections in the country and directed the Ministry of Interior to firm up all necessary arrangements to achieve this national objective.
The Prime Minister was given briefing by the senior officials of the Ministry of Interior on the overall internal security situation in the country as well as arrangements made in connection with holding of general elections.
The meeting was attended by the senior officials of the Prime Minister’s Secretariat and the Ministry of Interior.
Tags: Mir Hazar Khan Khoso, Pakistan Prime Minister, Pakistani passports, Secretary Interior Khwaja Saddique
Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=39474
Posted by Tahir Khan
on Mar 28 2013. Filed under Latest News, National, Pakistan, Politics.
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The Awami Markaz passport office Karachi is the only place where agents openly negotiate the amount of bribes to get the passport issued, without any fear of prosecution for the police and the passport issuing authorities have made an unholy alliance with these agents. This formation of a triangle has transformed the life of poor applicants into a living hell. These defenseless applicants have been totally left at the mercy of this triangle comprising agent mafia, passport office employees and the area police. No applicant can go to a passport counter without procuring the services of an agent. The official at the counter return their passport forms by raising unjustified objections to the documents.
Clashing with an agent is tantamount to inviting the anger and fury of the passport office employees. It is ironical that some of the senior level officials have turned into the godfathers of this ‘lucrative business’. After frequent complaints of bribery and stories of clashes between agents and visitors, no serious action was taken. but i heard that agents are not allowed to enter in the premises of Passport office although they can do their business 100 yards away from the Passport office
It is all a stranger than fiction, but a real life story. It impliedly means that bribery is banned within 100 yards, but beyond that you are allowed to operate. It is like administering a tablet of disprin to a cancer patient who needs a major surgery. There are reports that up to Rs 8,000 are taken per passport for providing a speedy service. The mod us operand of the agents is that once they take the money and start processing an application, they ask for more money under different pretexts and continue to extort money from the applicants. An applicant working abroad who wanted renewal of his passport wasted more than three months to get a new passport.
At one point, he walked out of the agents and bumped into the office of a senior officer to describe his ordeal. But he was in tears when the officer demanded money for his passport. The officer told him that as Awami Markaz office was paying Rs 10 million per month to the high-ups of the ministry, they have no option but to collect the money from the public. He further told the distraught applicant that by paying a small amount of Rs 5,000 to 10,000, he was not going to lose much because this was a way to go abroad and earn millions of rupees. . The Concerned police have a record of all the agents, operating outside the passport office, and if they want to stop this illegal trade, they can do it without much effort. The residents of Karachi admired Government for his road expansion and beautification drive that has contributed to the free flow of traffic in the city. But the real change in the lives of people will come when the society is made corruption-free. The community expects from the Government that as the second phase of his drive, he will focus on the eradication of bribery rampant in the government departments.
A number of social workers and local think tank members say that they have well documented evidence of bribery transactions in the district management machinery. But bribery needs no proof as beauty needs no ornaments. It is quite simple for the Government or any bureaucrat to verify it by just sending a man with a passport application form. Behold, nations do not perish in wars alone; denying hard realities is the cause of social destruction. my humble request to the authorities to take immediate action against deliberately delaying for issuance of Passports,
Regards
Rabia Khalil
sir plz me passport ka wat kar raha ho mane 11 decmbar ko jama kiya tha allah ap ko kushi kare ga kasah pata hota to normal passport na data passa do to izat he nahe koie dakhta tak nahe chaie koie mar na jiye kante log pairshan he wo allah he janta he ap nahe sir from larkana sindhi