ISLAMABAD - Former Interior Minister Rehman Malik has urged the government to make the Pakistan Origin Card more productive and useful as the expatriates complained about its worth.

In a meeting with businessman from Norway Zulfikar Mirza, Malik said he will take up the issue as the chairman of the Senate’s Standing Committee on Interior.

Mirza said the POC holders do not even have the right to buy a SIM card for mobile phones. “It’s only use is that we don’t need a visa to enter Pakistan, otherwise it is useless,” he maintained.

The government says POC programme endeavours to provide eligible foreigners with unprecedented incentives to get back to their roots while ensuring that the motherland remains tightly integrated with expatriates worldwide.

The facilities include, visa-free entry into Pakistan, indefinite stay in Pakistan, exemption from foreigner registration requirements, permission to purchase and sell property and right to open and operate bank accounts.

One is eligible for POC if he/she was previously a Pakistani national and had surrendered the nationality. Those who are foreign nationals and married to a Pakistani citizen or their parents were of Pakistani origin or ever held Pakistani nationality can also obtain the POC. Those foreign national whose parents, grandparents or close relatives were Pakistanis are also eligible for this document.

Mirza said he had obtained a POC but it was of little use. “The government should make it more practical,” he demanded.

In contrast to the POC, the National Identity Card for Overseas Pakistanis is a registration document issued to the expatriates who have dual nationality. The NICOP holder enjoys the same facilities as a citizen living in Pakistan.

Senator Rehman Malik said he would ask the government to add facilities in the POC so that they can live in the country as any other citizen. “SIM cards should be issued on the POC like the normal identity card,” he added.