Here is why Pakistan's citizens are unable to get their passports on time

Pakistani citizens are facing delays in obtaining their passports, shattering the hopes and aspirations of many, because of a paucity of lamination paper in the country, according to a report by the Pakistani daily, The Express Tribune. According to the Directorate General of Immigration & Passports (DGI&P), the lamination papers are usually imported from France.

Citizens across the country are at their wit's end as their hopes of studying abroad and moving out of the country have been affected. Several students who had secured admissions in universities in countries such as the UK or Italy told The Express Tribune that DGI&P's mismanagement had cost them their ticket out of poverty.

 

Gul, a resident from Punjab, was quoted as saying that she was on cloud nine as she set to move to Dubai for work soon. However, a delay in obtaining her passport has robbed her of an opportunity to escape poverty.

Hira, a student from Peshawar, told Express Tribune that her student visa for Italy was okayed, and she was supposed to leave Pakistan in October. It was unfair that she was paying the price for a government department's inefficiency, Hira added.

This is not the first time Pakistan has seen a hiccup when it comes to issuing travel documents. In 2013, passport printing was halted because the DGI&P owed money to printers and lacked lamination papers.

Qadir Yar Tiwana, the director general for media of the Ministry of Interior, said the Pakistani government was trying its best to solve the problem, and passports will soon be issued as normal.

A senior officer at the passport office in Peshawar disclosed to The Express Tribune that they could only process 12 to 13 passports a day currently compared to 3,000 to 4,000 passports per day previously.

Officials at regional passport offices said they had no idea when the pendency would be improved, and people may have to wait for another month or two before normal service resumes.