ISLAMABAD, Feb 22: The government has decided that Machine Readable Passports (MRPs) would be mandatory by June 2006, Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Sherpao said.

Speaking at a function held at National Database Registration Authority (NADRA) headquarters on Monday in connection with the issuance of 40 million Computerised National Identity Cards (CNICs) by the authority, the minister said the MRPs being prepared by NADRA were completely foolproof.

Later, while talking to reporters, he said a committee formed by the cabinet to decide about the column of religion in the MRPs would shortly make its finding public. However, a source told Dawn that the government had decided that the column of religion would not be included.

Mr Sherpao told Dawn that in many Islamic countries like Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Malaysia the column of religion was not provided in the passports. He said the entire data for passengers was checked at the airports by feeding their CNIC numbers in computers which revealed their religion also.