I WOULD like to highlight the miseries faced by international travellers at Islamabad international airport.

Despite being the gateway to the capital city of Pakistan, the terminal terribly lacks the capacity to handle the number of passengers it actually deals, not to mention the state of cleanliness.

The overstretched long queues for departure end up at a bottleneck at Anti- Narcotics Force checking counters where the baggage is searched manually by individuals.

This time consuming process causes inconvenience to the passengers of unpacking and packing. After getting through the ANF search, the baggage is scanned by x-ray machines before reaching the check-in counters.

After having received the boarding passes the passengers are once again faced by long queues at immigration counters.

The whole process at the airport until reaching the departure lounge takes around two troublesome hours. I request the authorities concerned to implement the following:

The arrival and departure time of different international flights to be staggered to avoid congestion at both arrival and departure lounges.

The ANF to use sniffing dogs and more counters to accomplish checks timely and efficiently and immigration counters must be increased.

I witnessed a disgruntled person asking his young child: “Will you dare to visit Pakistan again?” I politely requested him not to create a negative impression of our motherland on innocent minds. The conditions would certainly improve if those who matter care.

M. KHALID KAMAL Doha, Qatar