ISLAMABAD  -  Director General of Immigration & Passports Mustafa Jamal Kazi on Monday assured a National Assembly panel that the backlog of normal and urgent category passports would be cleared by mid-December. Briefing the National Assembly Standing Committee on Interior about months long delays in the issuance of passports to the public at large, the director general (DG) said the applications under urgent and normal categories would be processed in around a month.

He underlined there was a backlog of 170,000 applications in urgent category alone, while overall backlog at present was around a quarter million. He said the Passport Office has ended the backlog of all applications in the fast-track category, noting financial constraints were creating hindrance in the smooth delivery of travel document to the public. The remarks of the top official came amid a crisis-like situation at the Directorate General of Immigration & Passports as citizens are unable to get their new or renewed passports despite passage of weeks and months.

The poor governance is hitting hard workers, students aspiring to study abroad and those patients who want to get themselves treated from a foreign country.

“We are given targets but not funds (required to meet them),” Director General Kazi told the committee that met under the chair of MNA Raja Khurram Nawaz.

He explained that the directorate generated revenue of Rs. 50 billion from passport fees last year, nevertheless it still faces bureaucratic hurdles to get financial resources to run its affairs. Specifically, the monthly approval required from the Austerity Committee to import lamination paper sometimes leads to delays, exacerbating the backlog, he added.

He went on to say that previously the directorate had the capacity to print 22,000 passports daily against a demand of 75,000 applications. Now the situation has improved with the inclusion of more printing machines into the system.

The DG Passports acknowledged that the department was relying on outdated technology. To address these limitations and improve efficiency, he stated that they recently acquired advanced machines and printers from Germany, which are expected to enhance both the printing capacity and the quality of passports.

The committee assured the DG of its support in facilitating legitimate requests to streamline passport issuance processes and reduce delays. The chairman committee also summoned officials from the Finance Ministry for today to discuss the matter of funds availability.

Some members including Zartaj Gul and Sahibzada Hamid Raza complained that there was an inordinate delay in issuance of passports to them. The Parliamentary Leader of PTI in the NA Zartaj said that she had not been issued a passport even after the recommendation of the committee. PTI leader Raza also said that he had been waiting for his new passport, adding that the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) was creating hurdles.

On this, the chair ruled that the directorate should issue both official (blue) and normal passports, which one is required, to the members without further delay.

Earlier, PPP lawmaker Sehar Kamran, who had raised the issue of backlog in the NA, said the inordinate delay had severely affected citizens needing passports for travel, employment and medical purposes. The backlog, she noted, has been growing since 2022, with insufficient action taken to resolve the worsening situation.

MNA Sehar recommended a performance audit of the directorate to determine accountability and prevent a recurrence of the current backlog issue. She stressed the importance of implementing safeguards to ensure timely passport processing goes on.