I am writing to inform you about a serious problem being faced by seventy thousands Pakistanis that reside in Spain. The problem relates to a so-called 'character certificate' that is required as per the Spanish immigration laws. In order to acquire work and residence permits in Spain, the foreigners need to have a valid character certificate attested by police of the country of their origin. Previously, Pakistanis used to present certificates signed by district police officers, as police is a provincial department all over Pakistan. But the situation has changed since the Spanish government passed a new law requiring all character certificates to be necessarily attested by the national police. All applications of Pakistanis, who had applied for work and resident permits after having spent a period of three years here have, thus, been rejected. This is a very serious problem for those Pakistanis who want to settle with their families in Spain and hope to get Spanish nationality some day. On July 30, 2008, almost five hundred Pakistanis protested peacefully in front of the Pakistani Consulate General in Barcelona against lack of response on this problem. Our diplomats, though were unmoved. The designated Pakistani Ambassador Miss Samera Hassan in Madrid and Consul General Iyaz Hussain Syed in Barcelona were simply not interested in this problem. Tens of thousands of beleaguered Pakistanis request our Foreign Office to do something to resolve this issue with the Spanish authorities. -MANZAR WAHEED CH., President Maizbaan Forum Spain, Barcelona, Spain, via e-mail, August 2.