Green passport blues

The Pakistani passport remains one of the weakest in the world, coming in fourth from the bottom among 103 countries ranked in the Henley Passport Index. Pakistan was tied with Yemen, which is in the middle of a brutal civil war, and the three countries ranked below Pakistan — Iraq, Syria, and last-placed Afghanistan — are among the most insecure in the world. The ranking system is not particularly technical or refined — as passports are ranked on the number of countries that allow holders to enter visa-free or reliably grant them visas on arrival — it does reflect many countries’ general lack of interest in attracting Pakistani tourists or businesspeople.

Pakistani passport holders can only access 33 destinations visa-free. The contrast with top-ranking passports such as Singapore, which allows visa-free access to 195 destinations, underscores the severity of the situation. It is evident that the limitations imposed by the Pakistani passport significantly restrict the international mobility and opportunities for its holders.

The low ranking should serve as a wake-up call for Pakistani authorities to address the underlying issues hindering the strength of the passport. Enhancing global mobility is crucial in today’s interconnected world, not only for individual travelers but also for the country’s economic prospects. The direct correlation between a country’s visa-free score and its economic prosperity underscores the broader impact of this issue.

Unfortunately, strengthening a passport’s ranking also takes several years. While the UAE offers perhaps the greatest success story of how to move up in the rankings, going from 62^nd to ninth since 2006, the country is also a global hub for business, tourism and investment. Pakistan is none of those things. Still, the government needs to undertake deliberate and concerted efforts to improve the standing of its passport on the global stage. We may never get close to the top 20, or even the top 50, but at least we should not be ranked lower than countries under crippling sanctions, amid civil war, or called pariah states by the international media.