I WANT to draw the attention of the authorities concerned towards the working of the passport and Nadra offices in Faisalabad. Every educated person knows that Nadra and passport offices have online systems and an individual’s data can be accessed from anywhere in Pakistan. But the staff in these departments are still exploiting people and forcing them to pay thousands of rupees in bribe everyday.

I have been in Faisalabad since 1991 and both, my computerised NIC and passport, were issued from Faisalabad in 2004 and 2006, respectively.

Two weeks ago, I went there to get a token to apply for renewal of my passport. However, the token issuing official rejected my bank payment challan and refused to issue me a token because my permanent address on my CNIC was of another division. However, the official suggested getting approval from the director if I were to apply from Faisalabad. I tried my best to find the director for two hours but he was not available. I was also told that he was from Lahore and daily travels to Faisalabad and nobody knew about his whereabouts.

There were almost 400 passport applicants in the office. After two hours, I was so exhausted and disappointed that I was compelled to give Rs1,000 to an agent. He immediately made a telephone call and within no time an official appeared. The agent handed him the money and told him to get it approved from the director.

He went upstairs and was back within five minutes with the director’s signature and stamp. The most striking thing was that there were frequent quarrels among the 200 people who were struggling in a queue to be photographed.

But after giving Rs1,000 I was given priority over those 200 people. I was photographed first and was issued a token within 10 minutes.

The state of affairs at Nadra office in Faisalabad is worse than that of the passport office. Those who pay Rs3,000 executive class fee for National Identity Card for Overseas Pakistanis (NICOP) are given high priority.

Their NICOP is made within eight to 10 days without any delay, but those who apply for normal process paying Rs1,350 have to wait for 40 days or more. I applied for my NICOP under normal process. I fulfilled all their requirements and at the time of submission of my application the female officer checked all the documents.

After 15 days of the submission of my form, a female officer called me to ask for the photocopy of my brother or sister’s CNIC as a witness. I told her that the photocopy of my sister’s CNIC was already attached. She confirmed that it was there.

I was shocked to see how carelessly they were treating my application. Perhaps this is why we as a nation are on the verge of disaster.

We have become brutes. There is so much injustice and dishonesty in Pakistan that it is not surprising to see the sensible and educated people migrating to other countries.

RANA SAJID Faisalabad