Govt employees and travel documents

There are almost 48,000 government employees who have not declared their affiliation with the Government of Pakistan on their passports, according to the Federal Investigation Agency. The implications are several but the root cause, aside from the ‘stigma’ of being involved with the government in practical matters, is characteristic dishonesty. Therefore, the Directorate General of Immigration and Passports must speedily implement a background check system to determine whether employees are affiliated with the government. On a larger scale, background information for all applicants should be screened and validated.

Official identity documents such as identity cards and passports have been issued to questionable persons in the past. The application process at the passport office needs to be refined. Especially with a precarious security status, strict background checks must ensure that the information provided on an application corroborates with other databases and that documents are acquired legally. Because employees cannot be trusted and depended upon, which is frequently the case in government departments to begin with, the directorate must use the letter of the law to ascertain government employees declare their office and first obtain an NOC from their department.

Even though one may agree to both sides of the argument, government affiliation is a universally declared subject because it informs nations about allegiances. It is significant especially in the capacity of international relations and diplomacy. The converse of being attached to the GoP also holds water. This turns the process of travelling abroad for government employees quite arduous. Although it is fathomable why employees do not declare government affiliations, the law must be enforced. The systems must also outline provisions for punitive measures against those who bypass laws so as to set examples to others. Until people practise being honest, law-abiding citizens of this country, strict measures will consistently need to be taken with agencies assuring that their systems are foolproof.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 8^th, 2018.

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