Pakistan Security Printing Corporation (PSPC) has commenced the high-tech production of Machine Readable Passport booklets. To mark the auspicious occasion, a simple ceremony was held at the PSPC factory at Malir, on Friday.
Chairman & Managing Director, PSPC, S. Naseem Ahmed, presented the first delivery of the booklets to Abdul Rauf Chaudhry, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Interior, and Shafqat Hussain Naghmi, Director General, Immigration & Passports.
The introduction of Machine Readable Passport is a great technological advancement for the country, and will go a long way towards production of high quality and more secured passport thus ensuring its sanctity as a major document of Pakistani citizenship.
With the commencement of production on August 20, government will be fully geared to enable the issuance of Machine Readable Passport from September 15, 2004 as already announced by the government.
While PSPC has been entrusted to produce the new passport, which has been designed in house by PSPC, the booklet will be personalised by NADRA using its database, and the passport will be issued by the Directorate General Immigration & Passports.
Thus, NADRA's role in the project remains restricted to personalising the passport booklets.
PSPC will be producing the Machine Readable Passport on UNO machine which is one of the best in the world and is being currently used to produce passport booklets in USA, UK and Saudi Arabia.
PSPC engineers have been trained for this machine in Japan and further training has been imparted to PSPC operators by Japanese experts who have installed the machine in Pakistan.
It may be mentioned that PSPC is an ISO 9001-2000 certified, progressive and profit making organisation wholly owned by the Government of Pakistan, which has been producing passport booklets and other high security products including Banknotes for the past 50 years.-PR