Mission is sitting on no less than 8,000 prepared NICOPs or CNICs sent to NADRA for distribution over last 3 years.
KARACHI: Through this letter, I would like to highlight the main issue being faced nowadays by Pakistanis living in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
It is common knowledge that the early and timely provision of relevant identity cards to overseas Pakistanis is of utmost importance as it is mandatory for every overseas Pakistani to possess those to apply for new passports or for the renewal of old passports. Since the introduction of machine-readable passports, Pakistanis have to go to their embassies early in the morning to stand in queues and they are not dealt with as politely as they deserve.
The Pakistani High Commission in Kuala Lumpur is responsible for dealing with matters relating to CNICs (Computerised National Identity Cards) and NICOPs (National Identity Cards for Overseas Pakistanis).
But unfortunately, several complaints have been heard regarding gross mismanagement and even criminal negligence displayed by the mission at Kuala Lumpur, which say it has failed to deliver back the readied NICOPs or CNICs to the applicants concerned, despite the passage of three years.
As the situation stands now, the mission is sitting on no less than 8,000 prepared NICOPs or CNICs that were sent to NADRA for distribution to applicants over the last three years. But, today, all these identity documents have been lying and gathering dust in the cupboards of the mission; while those who applied for the processing of these are constantly told that their NICOPs or CNICs are not ready or that they never came back from Pakistan, thus forcing them to apply and re-apply for newer NICOPs and CNICs time and again.
This negligence has resulted in very serious implications for the community, especially in a country, where hundreds of Pakistanis have lost their jobs, become illegal and or have been detained by immigration authorities for the want of proper documentation; the provision of which was the sole responsibility of this concerned mission.
The mental torture and agony that fellow Pakistanis have suffered in recent months in the absence of key documents was also communicated to me in private conversations as well as through comments made by aggrieved Pakistanis on the Facebook page of the Pakistani High Commission in Kuala Lumpur.
However, the irony remains that instead of taking stern action against those responsible for this massive negligence, the whole issue is being covered up, apparently because it involves the mission’s officials. The same also shows an absolute failure in service delivery to fellow Pakistanis in Malaysia, which ranks as the sixth highest source of remittances sent to Pakistan annually. In order to address the grievances of overseas Pakistanis mentioned above, the government should take all possible measures to resolve their problems on priority.
Moreover, it is strongly recommended that the Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis and the Foreign Office, as well as other departments concerned, should immediately be apprised of the situation prevailing in the Pakistan High Commission in Kuala Lumpur and that they should hold an external inquiry for criminal negligence and mismanagement displayed by the mission there.
Muhammad Afzal Jamil
Published in The Express Tribune, February 19th, 2014.
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