May 23, 2006	Tuesday	Rabi-us-Sani 24, 1427

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ISLAMABAD, May 22: The National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) and the Directorate General of Immigration and Passport have decided to simplify procedure for issuance of machine readable passports, it is officially informed.

“The decision has been taken to facilitate genuine applicants who were denied MRPs for having no family linkages in Nadra’s database,” a Nadra official said.

Nadra chairman Brig (rtd) Saleem Ahmed Moeen and the DGIP director-general Brig (retd) Khalid Habib Mian have decided that those appearing in Nadra’s system independently would be asked to get their record with Nadra updated.

Family tree system was adopted to identify aliens who had obtained manual national identity cards and on the basis of these NICs they have obtained computerised national identity cards. Such card holders do not have family linkage beyond 1980.

Genuine citizens will now have to provide CNIC number of any of their blood relatives to establish family linkage.

It has been observed that genuine applicants having no family linkage are being unnecessarily asked to contact Nadra for getting their record verified prior to applying for a MRP.

“Now the DGIP has been authorised to issue MRPs to these citizens with an advice to have their record updated,” the official said.

About 28 regional passport offices have been converted into MRP centres while 10 new MRP centres have been established at Pakistani missions in London, Los Angles, New York, Toronto, Rome, Oslo, Frankfurt, Dubai, Jeddah and New Delhi.