I AM a Pakistani professional working in Oman for the last more than five years. Early in the morning if you take a stroll in the embassy area (Madina-tul-Haq) of Muscat city, a long queue is visible in front of the Pakistan embassy.

These are Pakistani labourers and common traders who mostly travel across the sultanate to renew their passports or to get embassy-related issues resolved.

At first, they have to reach the embassy before daybreak to wait in a long queue outside the Pakistan embassy gate to get their registration number, which they can easily get if the Pakistan embassy at Muscat introduces online registration system.

Then they have to wait in another long line to submit their documents for required purposes. Moreover, a majority of these Pakistanis are working on daily wages and they cannot afford a day or two off from work to wait outside of the embassy to get their registration number.

Therefore, we need an online registration system at the Pakistan embassy in Muscat, where at least we can get registration number online and can do away with waiting in long queues outside our embassy, which indeed is an embarrassment for us all.

Anwaar Ahmed Abbasi

Oman

Published in Dawn, May 27th, 2015

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