Pakistani citizens are facing difficulty in getting new passports due to a shortage of lamination paper, The Express Tribune has reported.
Shortage Of Lamination Paper
According to Pakistan’s Directorate General of Immigration & Passports (DGI&P), the lamination paper used in the passports is imported from France. Qadir Yar Tiwana, the Director General for Media of the Ministry of Interior, the parent ministry of DGI&P, told the newspaper that the government was doing its best to navigate the crisis. “The situation will soon be under control and passport issuance will continue as normal,” Tiwana said.
The shortage has affected thousands of Pakistanis who have been planning to travel abroad. Several students, who have looming admission deadlines in universities around the world, have blamed the inefficiency of the Pakistan government for the crisis. Meanwhile, a senior officer of the passport office in Peshawar, told The Express Tribune under the condition of anonymity that they could only process 12 to 13 passports per day as compared to 3,000 to 4,000 passports earlier.
Notably, this is not the first time that such a crisis has loomed in Pakistan. In 2013, the printing of Pakistani passports came to a halt due to the DGI&P owing money to printers and a lack of lamination papers.
Pakistan Rank In Henley Passport Index 2023
Pakistan’s passport has been ranked as the fourth worst in the world, according to a report by the global citizenship and residence advisory company Henley & Partners, which sparked an outrage among the country’s netizens.
Pakistan Rank In International CIVIL AVIATION Index 2022
Pakistan is at the 100th spot with a score of 70.39%, India and Georgia are in the 48th position with a score of 85.49% each.
