MUZAFFARABAD, Nov 2: The Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) home department has directed all government functionaries to avoid approaching the interior ministry directly for issuance of official (gratis) passports.

The direction was given to secretaries of the AJK government and heads of the attached departments via a circular from the home department, which is headed by the chief secretary.

Gratis passports, which are blue, are issued to Pakistani nationals such as senators, provincial ministers and government officers proceeding abroad on official assignments.

The circular made it clear that the gratis passports were issued by the interior ministry to government employees only when they were required to perform duties outside Pakistan.

The circular further said that such cases should be forwarded in accordance with the standard procedure.

“It is requested that the home department AJK be approached for issuance of official/gratis passports in future.”

In AJK, the standard procedure to acquire gratis passports is to forward the application to the AJK home department which then forwards it to either the interior ministry or Directorate General of Immigration and Passports (DGIP) for the issuance of passports.

The circular said: “It has been noticed that some officials directly approach the Federal Ministry of Interior for issuance of official passports which is against procedure. The chief secretary has shown displeasure over such transactions.”

According to official sources, the strong worded warning was issued in the wake of restricted but authentic reports which stated that the federal ministry was being deceived into issuing gratis passports in favour of a fake ‘special assistant to the AJK Prime Minister’ and his family members.

Direct correspondence was made with the federal ministry by the staff of an influential official of the PM secretariat, without involving the AJK home department.

Internal investigations by the PM secretariat revealed that the beneficiary had been introduced to the interior ministry as the special assistant to the AJK prime minister.

A majority of the AJK government officials travel to foreign countries on normal green passports even on officially assigned duties because of the cumbersome procedure to obtain gratis passports from Islamabad.