KARACHI: Official held for issuing passports to Indians
By Tahir Siddiqui
KARACHI, March 23: The Federal Investigation Agency has formally arrested an assistant director of the passport office, who allegedly issued passports to two Indian women.
The sources said Saeed Ahmed of the Regional Passport Office, Saddar, was arrested on March 19 by the FIA’s Passport Circle, and he was remanded in the custody of the agency for interrogation.
They said the passport department official was being questioned also by experts from other intelligence agencies as the Indian women had attempted to travel on Pakistani documents.
Earlier, the FIA had arrested an official of the Pakistan Navy, Mohammed Idrees, for allegedly attesting the fake documents of the two women. He is still in jail custody.
Zafar Ahmed Rajput, a former member of the Sindh Assembly, belonging to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, and a passport agent, Akbar Ali, have already been declared absconders in the case by a federal court.
According to the FIR, the former provincial legislator obtained Rs1.7 million from the two Indian women for arranging fake Pakistani passports and national identity cards for them.
The women, Shamim and Zehra, were arrested by the immigration staff at the Quaid-i-Azam International Airport last year after they were deported from Hong Kong.
During preliminary interrogation, the women disclosed that Zafar Rajput had arranged the fake documents for their entry into the United States.
The women were released after the Sindh High Court granted them bail in the sum of Rs200,000 each. The Federal Anti-corruption Court had earlier rejected the bail applications of the intending illegal emigrants.
The sources said AD Saeed Ahmed Abbasi issued on April 9 last year passport No KA-40318 in the name of Mrs Shamim Barkat, wife of Barkat Ali, who had entered Pakistan on her Indian passport No A-6185746, issued at Mumbai in the name of Marediya Shamim Ben Sadaruddin.
They said the investigation officer, Sub-Inspector Chaudhry Hameedullah, effected the arrest of the passport department official of grade-17 after conducting a thorough investigation on the direction of Deputy Director Mohammed Malik of the Passport Circle.
The sources said the Indian woman subsequently used the Pakistani passport for travelling to the United States, but she was deported back from Hong Kong for being in possession of forged travelling documents.
They said the Indian woman was issued Pakistani passport on the basis of forged copies of the National Identity Card and passport of Piyar Ali, shown as her father. The other forged documents attached with the passport application included a Nikahnama (marriage certificate) and the NIC of Barkat Ali, shown as her husband.
During investigation, the sources said, it was revealed that Piyar Ali had died and no one was available at his given address and the Nikahnama was found to be fake.
They said the passport department official issued the passports to the Indian women without verification report of the NICs attached with the applications.
The sources said the women appeared to be educated but the passport official did not bother to ask for their educational certificates and issued the passports merely on the basis of forged copies of the passports and NICs.
About the involvement of the former MPA, the sources said he was instrumental in arranging the forged travelling documents for the Indian women. Accused Rajput had also affixed the photographs of the Indian women on the passports of his two daughters and as per plan the women had to travel from Hong Kong to the US on those passports.
