The committed passport delivery schedule has been violated sometimes due to load shedding, breakdown of passport making machines.
Transparency International Pakistan (TIP) has requested the Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry to take suo motu action on the inordinate delays in providing passports to the citizens by the passport office that works under the ministry of interior.
According to the procedure, on payment of ordinary fee the passport should be delivered within 12 to 15 working days and for urgent fee it should be available in five to seven working days, TIP said in its plea filed in the human rights cell of the Supreme Court.
However, the passport office, which was declared in National Corruption Perception Survey by TIP as the least corrupt till 2008, has become highly corrupt in last five years, the whistle-blower on corruption said.
The committed passport delivery schedule has been violated sometimes due to load shedding, breakdown of passport making machines, and since last year due to passport paper shortage, TIP said in its plea.
TIP said that press reports reveal that the delay of several months in passport delivery is only due to efforts to award the contract to a chosen party without tender.
TIP said the passport office wanted to circumvent the rules laid out by the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) and procure passport paper for five years from OpSec New York on unsolicited basis.
TIP in its plea said the Supreme Court is requested to take up this case to help the citizens in getting the passport, and direct action against those responsible for the delay and corruption.
Transparency International Pakistan is striving for across the board application of Rule of Law, which is the only way to stop corruption. An indulgence of the Honorable Court in the matter is prayed for, the TIP plea concluded.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 21st, 2013.
COMMENTS (27)
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Hi guys i have planned to sit togather and communicate each other. when we shall have number of people then we can announce the date of protest. This will unite us against the culprits in Interior ministry. please like my page so that we shall become one https://www.facebook.com/pakipassport
i have applied for my passport for status change with urgent fee on 12 feb 2013.as yet did not get ant response.very bad shame on our corrupt leaders.
Hello please help us what time you make our passport please o
Hi my name is saad I also applied for renewal of my passpor in december 2012 butt I still not recived my passport yet today I visited the office again the told me that only that the haverecived passport till 06 decmeber 2012 so you should wait for one month more. I think it is a shameee for passport and imigaration departement. I have to proceed for umrah with my mother. Tell what should I dooooo
This is true. I've applied for a passport renewal with the urgent fees and I've been told it will take 45 days. I remember the last time I got it renewed, it took a week on urgent basis.
I am in the agony my passport still has some validity but its less than 6 months for a Saudi visa I have seen the worst humiliation in the passport office by pp officials and after this unimaginable humiliation probably I don't have words to write down my feelings I literally cried in my car and said to my self that I either I shud give bribe or suffer but I don't want be the part of corruption so I choose to suffer !!
Dont go overseas.
I have applied for my passport and still not received it though it should have been with me by now. My concern now is HOW much longer till action is taken and how will all the people who have suffered from this corrupted Government will be compensated???
@the Skunk: PPP can rightly claim credit for institutionalizing two functions, viz, corruption and nepotism. Salams
After the claims of PML-N and PTI that 18 crore people are with them, I guess you are blaming the wrong party. The staff of the passport offices (being in urban centers) is mostly from these right wing parties.
@Syed A. Mateen: * I sent a fax message to Director General, Immigration & Passports, Islamabad Syed Wajid Ali Bukhari * I also tried to contact with the Project Director Mr. Maqbool Ahmed Gondal * two days back I have sent fax message to Mr. Salman Farooqi, Secretary General to President of Pakistan
Do you honestly think that you are contacting the right people for the passport? Next time write to COAS or Siaf chief. I was of the view that with seniority (senior journalist) comes the wisdom; If it hasn't, here's a free advice... take it up with the local office.
@A Y: Flat lie. I got mine the next day.
I have a Machine Readable Passport and fortunately in the interest of expedience, when it came time for renewal, the passport office extended the validity of the passport for 5 years instead of issuing a new passport altogether. It too a day for mine to extend that validity of mine.
Its not safe in Pakistan - people are taking the risk of leaving their current decent jobs and settle in some other country and start from 0 (Zero) .. I think its our government's cheap way of stopping the people from moving.
Passport delay due to ink is the height of incompetence and is enough to realize that this Govt should never ever be brought into power again. There is an anger amongst overseas Pakistanis, whose visa and passport are expiring around same time.
In Dubai , people who submitted their urgent VISAs in December are still waiting for them to arrive. My wife has to go to Pakistan on an urgent visit and I dont know what to do
it’s been more than 2 months since I applied for renewal of my passport , and am still waiting even after paying them an urgent fee...I had to travel to UAE for official training but now i have lost the opportunity, god bless this country
Even a blind, mute and deaf person can visualize about what is going on in and around passport offices in the country but our law enforcers and high ups of Passport and immigration departments can't. This state of affairs is all due to the recruitment done by the interior ministry in last five years. May God be with Pakistan.
...name one department that the "democratic" govt improved in this country over the last 5 years? TIP states that the passport office was the least corrupt upto 2008...but now...
...because democracy is the best revenge...
I Submit new Passport for Son here in Dubai UAE on 24th February 2013 and i pay urgent Fee. But Pakistani Consulate in Dubai Given Delivery Date 25th April 2013. And According to Dubai Immigration New Born have to Get visa Stamp on his passport in 3 Months If late they will impose Heavy Fine. So Because of Pakistani Govt. Many peoples will pay these fines.
My parents ( ages 60+ and 55+) had a very bad experience in the passport renewal. On payment of urgent fee they were provided an expected issue of date one month. Apart from this they had to visit the office four days consecutively just to submit their applications as the office had very few working staff members and they were busy accepting last weeks "token numbers" !!! Being older age my parents suffered severe exhaustion and fever by the completion of four day submission of the same ... One of my friends who urgently required his passport told me that he was offered quicker passport delivery by the roadside men offering 10 day delivery for Pkr. 20,000 and 5 day delivery for Pkr. 40,000!
My passport will be expiring in the next few months and i am truly dreading the ordeal !
Its sad and embarassing to know that a Government organisation lacked the budgetary control and planning to counter against shortage of paper for printing of passports. Unfortunately, the last 5 years have proven that there is nothing that the Government did which actually benefitted the normal Pakistani.
I am a reformer and senior journalist. From time to time people approach me for various matters in case if the don't get a positive response from the government offices.
I have been approached by an elderly lady Amna Begum who has applied for an urgent passport vide receipt No.10301455654 on February 14, 2013 after paying the urgent fee of Rs.5,000/-
After running from pillar to post at the Karachi passport office she approached me and to take up the matter, I sent a fax message to Director General, Immigration & Passports, Islamabad Syed Wajid Ali Bukhari on his official fax # 0519107071 on March 14, 2013 but there was no action till date.
Consequently, I have sent a text message on his cell # mentioning the details but tagain there was no response.
The office telephone numbers 051-9107070 and 051-9107072 of DG Passports always remain busy as the staff of DG Passports have put the telephone receivers off.
I also tried to contact with the Project Director Mr. Maqbool Ahmed Gondal on his office telephone # 051-9107040 but here again the staff of Project Director has put the telephone receiver off.
Consequently, two days back I have sent fax message to Mr. Salman Farooqi, Secretary General to President of Pakistan with the request to request the DG Passports to expedite the case of Amna Begum and awaiting for his response.
It is very unfortunate that the senior officials and other staff of the passport offices in Islamabad and Karachi are not attending to the complaints of people who have either applied for renewal or for news passports, despite the facts that their salaries are paid from the fee which people deposit either to renew or make application for new passports.
PPP can rightly claim credit for institutionalizing two functions, viz, corruption and nepotism. Salams
Unfortunately, the situation is quite true. For Pakistanis trying to get their passports made overseas it is even worse.......