In the unwelcome league

Anyone who has boarded an outbound flight would know just how much suspicion and distrust the Pakistani passport evokes at immigration counters abroad. Given the notoriety of our green passport, Pakistan ranks alongside Somalia in the unwelcome league, whose citizens have visa-free-access to only 32 countries in the world. By contrast, the United Kingdom’s travel documents are considered the most powerful as British citizens enjoy visa-free-access to 173 countries.

Feel the difference. And now feel angry. You will feel very embarrassed to know that even in previously visa-friendly countries such as Afghanistan and Sri Lanka, a Pakistani cannot enter without a visa anymore.

I think we ourselves, both the citizens and the government of Pakistan, are responsible for this deplorable situation. More than 3,000 blue passports were issued by the previous government to appease their blue-eyed boys in government service. Many such passport-holders defamed Pakistan when their travel documents were found to be duplicates/forged by immigration authorities at several international airports. This shady business is thriving even today as there are reports that more than 5,431,000 Afghan refugees, in connivance with Pakistani citizens, have managed to get their computerised national identity cards (CNICs) and later Pakistani passports by illegal means.

This issue was also raised in the Senate Standing Committee on Interior but senior officers refused to brief the lawmakers in front of journalists.

Surprisingly, over 380,000 Pakistanis have been deported since 2009, with an average deportation rate of 208 per day, (deported from 54 countries since 2009 as records showed) and around 40 per cent of them travelled on forged documents. Though some travel documents and CNICs were cancelled by the present Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, I will say that this is not enough if we want our passport to attain a reputable status. Moreover, we, citizens have to abide by not only domestic laws but also international obligations while travelling abroad. The respect of our passport must always be kept in mind. We will have to be honest when it comes to our travel documents rather than slipping to other countries without having complete documentation.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 27^th, 2015.