I LANDED at Multan airport on Jan 14 where the Federal Investigation Agency official deputed on immigration duty stamped my non-machine readable Passport Number KH76123 with an entry stamp.

A fortnight later on my return flight to Brussels, another FIA official posted on duty refused to let me board my flight stating the non -machine readable passports were no longer ‘recognised’. I have used this passport 17 times in the past four years including four months earlier from this same airport.

I would like to know why the Pakistan government is issuing non -machine readable passports if they are not ‘recognised’ by the FIA authorities. The attitude of the FIA official whom I faced was humiliating and threatening to say the least. I was made to apply for a NICOP card on emergency basis at 1am at the airport and forced to wake up my family members to ask for their credit card number because the Nadra kiosk at the airport does not have a credit card terminal yet they accept paymentonly via credit card. Is this how the new government will bring change?

Andil Salahud Din

Multan

Published in Dawn, February 6th, 2019