I came to Pakistan a few days ago with my family, including an infant and kids. I counted my passport and NICOP cards and handed over to the immigration officer after waiting in a fish-market- like environment.

I was shocked when the officer told me that I have one missing NICOP card.

When I insisted he should look for the missing card under his table, he did so but said he didn’t find anything.

I was given a good 20 minutes run around. I was told to go outside and look in my papers to find the missing card.

When I started to lose my temper, the immigration officer immediately found the card under his table, though he was not able to find it in the last two attempts.

It is unfortunate that these immigration people are working like street police who are always on the lookout to tease local and foreigners to make money. Last time they lost one of my boarding passes and I had to tell the immigration girl to look under the table.

Mohammad Amin

Karachi

Published in Dawn, November 29th , 2014