ISLAMABAD, Dec 13: The government has decided not to include the column of religion in the recently introduced machine-readable passports, Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao said on Monday.

Speaking at a press conference here, the minister said the government of Saudi Arabia had not raised any objection in giving visas to pilgrims because of the absence of the religion column in the new passport.

He said many Muslim countries, like Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Malaysia, did not have the column of religion in their passports. It may be added that some religious organizations, including Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal, have opposed the deletion of the religion column.

The minister said the National Database Registration Authority (Nadra) had established five counters in the Saudi Embassy in Islamabad and four in the Saudi consulate in Karachi to prevent Qadyanis from obtaining Saudi visas for Haj and umrah.

Mr Sherpao said there was no need to include the column of religion in new passports as information in this regard was available in the data of the Computerized National Identity Cards (CNICs).

He said the entire data of passengers were checked at the airports by feeding their Computerized National Identity Cards numbers in computers and that data revealed their religion.

The minister denied reports that the US forces had conducted any military operation in areas along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border to nab militants. Meanwhile, the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal yesterday criticized the government's decision not to introduce the column on religion in the new passport.

A spokesman for the alliance said that a meeting would be held this week to discuss the matter.