QUETTA: As Hajj applications are being submitted across Balochistan these days, hundreds of people visit the Quetta passport office on a daily basis. After travelling for hours to reach Quetta to submit their applications in order to obtain passports — which is their legal right as Pakistani citizens — these people from far-flung areas have to stay for days in hotels and wait under the hot sun for hours outside the passport office in order to get a passport token, which is necessary to initiate the process of obtaining a passport. After going through all that, they finally get to the authorised officers where they are directly asked what they do for a living — not for official purposes but only to know if the applicant can pay a high enough bribe or not.
An unsatisfactory answer leads to the person’s application being pushed down the pile of applications that have to be processed. When these people return on the due date of passport issuance, they are informed that their application has not been processed due to several reasons, including issues related to “police clearance”, a technique that pushes those wanting to perform the sacred rite of Hajj to pay chai pani to the officers concerned. Paying bribes worth thousands of rupees for the issuance of each passport can remove all obstacles.
People with limited means have to face this huge headache every time they visit the passport office, instead of being provided with their right to travel abroad in a speedy manner. The authorities concerned are requested to look into the operations of the said passport office and ensure that the corruption there ceases.
Malik Achakzai
Published in The Express Tribune, April 18th, 2013.
