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Pakistan: New machine-readable passport could reduce human trafficking
November 11, 2004
Islamabad - "We have filled in all the basic requirements of International
Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO). The new passports contain digitally printed
personal data with a photograph, which cannot be tampered with like the
previous manual ones," Junaid Mushtaq Qureshi, manager of the MRPs programme at
the national immigration and passport department, told IRIN in the Pakistani
capital, Islamabad.
Under the procedure of getting new passports, no application or photos are
required from the applicants. The applicants have to only bring their
computerised national identity cards (CNICs) with a photocopy and a bank
receipt after depositing the prescribed passport fee and the procedure will be
completed within half an hour.
All the data will be entered into the system on the spot and the photograph
will be made digitally, without any extra expenses. Afterwards, an immigration
official will conduct a brief interview to check that the applicant holds
Pakistani nationality.
"Its not just trafficking, but so many other situations like forging of
documents and smuggling cases, where it could provide effective control,"
Maryam Khokhar, programme officer at the International Organisation of
Migration (IOM) told IRIN.
"The introduction of MRPs will lend greater authenticity to travel documents,
as electronic processing of data will certainly eliminate potential human
discretion at passport issuance offices," Qureshi added.
Giving further details of the new passports, Qureshi said they contained two
machine-readable pages containing all the basic personal information. "There is
a special 'bar code' as the biometric identifier of the MRP holder to ensure
safety and check forgery," he added.
Pakistan's National Assembly was told earlier this year that nearly 64,000
Pakistanis had been expelled from the Middle Eastern Gulf states over the last
two years due to their illegal status. Some of the deportees, according to the
Manpower and Labour department, were involved in forgery of passports and
smuggling.
Qureshi said Pakistan was one of 80 countries in the world to have moved
towards machine-readable travelling documents and the first in the South Asian
region to do so.
"This will also benefit travellers as with the new document they would be
processed through entry and exit points in comparatively less time," the
immigration official added.
Apart from facilitating the passengers, it will provide a check on potential
manipulation, according to the immigration official, "It'd also help in
maintaining a proper record of passport holders ultimately helping us in
curbing crimes by immediate verification."
"It's always difficult to come up with exact statistics on issues such as human
trafficking and smuggling. As by its very nature it is a hidden act. Sometimes
the cases are identified but many times they are not," Khokhar added.
There is not any organised effort in the country dealing with the human
trafficking issue as a whole. However, some social activists have cautiously
welcomed the introduction of the new travelling document.
"To some extent, it'd be helpful in controlling the menace of human
trafficking. But to check trafficking of women and children it needs a lot more
effort combined with proper legislation as well," Rakhshanda Naz, head of a
women's rights group, Aurat Foundation, told IRIN from north western city of
Peshawar.
Pakistan has such a long and loose border that, according to Naz, "Unless they
control the border effectively, they can't limit it. As all the trafficking and
smuggling is not going on through airports but from open borders."
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