Thin red line: Iran quietly tightens travel rules for Pakistanis

Border guards deport five Pakistani families having travel permits.

QUETTA: Iranian border guards have deported five Pakistani families even though they were carrying valid travel documents known as ‘rahdari’ or ‘red pass’, tightening rules in the wake of security concerns.

Following an agreement in 1956, a transit facility known as ‘rahdari’ was agreed between the two countries, and administration officials, including assistant commissioners, were authorised to issue such travel permits.



Under the rahdari permit, Pakistanis can travel up to 60 kilometres inside Iran and Iranians could come up to the Pakistani border town of Taftan. Three years ago, Iranian officials tweaked the rules, making deputy commissioners the only authority able to issue the permit.

“Officials at the Taftan border make us wait for many hours and they do not allow women and children to enter on rahdari,” a resident of Taftan, Murad Ali, told The Express Tribune.

“It seems rahdari is gradually becoming invalid or outdated.” Ali added that he has visited relatives on the Balochistan border with Iran for decades and his documents have never been questioned to date. “Now dozens of families have been asked to go back and I am among them,” he said.

Families have registered protests with the local administration. Local officials conceded that it has become increasingly difficult for Pakistanis to visit family on the other side of the border.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 24^th, 2014.