Thousands of expired, blank passports missing

ISLAMABAD: Thousands of expired passports went missing from the Directorate of Passports and Immigration (DPI) between 1999 and 2009, according to Senator Talha Mehmood.

Mehmood revealed this during a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Interior held at the National Database Registration Authority headquarters on Wednesday.

“These missing passports can be used by militants for terrorism-related activities in the country,” Mehmood feared.

Mehmood, chairman of the committee, expressed concerns about the stolen blank passports, adding, “al-Qaeda and other jihadi outfits can use these passports for terrorist activities in other parts of the world as well.”

An official document obtained by The Express Tribune stated that top management of the directorate, to some extent, acknowledged that the record of expired passports was not in safe hands and hundreds of blank passports were reportedly stolen between 2005 and 2009.

“The DPI, which is responsible for issuing passports and keeping expired passports in safe custody, seems to have been penetrated by a ‘passport mafia’,” Mehmood said. “Some 76 blank passports reportedly went missing from the country’s missions abroad as well,” he added.

“The ‘mafia’ has been shifting passports from one station to another to ensure that theft of the expired and blank passports is undetected,” said one member of the committee, on condition of anonymity.

Irshad Ahmad Bhatti, director of Immigration and Passports, neither confirmed nor denied that the expired passports were missing. However, he said the correct figure of missing expired passports will be tabled in a meeting of Senate Standing Committee on Interior next week.

Senator Mehmood further shocked many when he told the committee members that the passport office was deliberately not destroying some expired confidential passport data despite repeated directions from the Ministry of Interior.

Bhatti admitted that top officials at the passport office in Islamabad were facing numerous problems.

“There are managerial problems as well as lack of staff. Officers are being brought in on deputation from other departments like Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences and Water and Power Development Authority,” he said.

Meanwhile, Senator Jamal Khan Leghari expressed disapproval at the appointment of the head of the regional passport office in Dera Ghazi Khan. An Upper Division Clerk (UDC) was appointed a few weeks ago.

“How can a UDC run the regional passport office, which is located in a very sensitive area facing a growing threat from the Taliban,” Leghari demanded. “The Taliban always use fake National Identity Cards (NICs) and passports in their terrorist activities,” he added.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik, also present at the meeting, directed the passport office in Islamabad to investigate the matter and provide a detailed report about the issue of expired passports.

He directed Syed Wajid Ali, Director General, Immigration and Passports, to submit the records of all passports issued in the last 10 years as well as the records of all expired passports.

Published in the Express Tribune, June 3rd, 2010.