Slow processing at passport office iriks Pakistanis

PAKISTAN, ISLAMABAD: As many as 275000 passports are pending for issuance with passport office of interior ministry of Pakistan as 12 out of 35 passport machines are not working being out of order, it was learnt on Monday.

According to report presented by Directorate of Passports (DP) to parliamentary committee, passport department of interior Ministry of Pakistan received 9727415 applications during the last six years , however, only 9455022 machine readable passports were issued to just. As many as 272000 applications are pending due to faulty printing and laminating machines, the report said.

According to the report , 462000 passports were issued during the period from October, 25 2004 to June, 30, 2005, 1706000 from July, 1, 2005 to June, 30, 2006, 1926000 from July, 2006 to June, 2007, 2106000 from July, 1, 2007 to June, 30, 2008 and 1132000 from July, 2009 to March, 2010,.

It is pertinent to mention here that no new passport machine has been purchased by Pakistan since 2004 while the existing machines have become outdated and they need to be changed immediately, said the report.