EDITORIAL: It is a serious issue but the government seems to take it lightly. The Ministry of Interior has announced amnesty for holders of multiple Pakistani passports until December 31. According to a statement issued by the ministry, the government has decided to pardon all those having more than one Pakistani passport for over six months.
The decision makes no sense as no one would want to have multiple passports unless the purpose is to hide their real identity to escape from the country undetected, which is a cognizable offence.
As per the relevant section of the Passport Act, 1974, a person shall be punishable with imprisonment which may extend to three years, or with fine, or both, if he/she obtains more than one passport either in the same or different names by concealing the fact of their already being in possession of a passport.
No law abiding citizen would have any use for more than one foreign travel document, only those involved in crimes of one sort or another need them. So, why show leniency towards such people? Besides, amnesties hardly ever help achieve the desired results.
As a report in this newspaper points out, different governments in the past announced as many as six such amnesties between 2006 and 2016. During that period, over 12,000 passports were cancelled. That though has not deterred those with some motive to dodge accountability.
The Interior Ministry reckons that under the present amnesty scheme some 38,000 passports can be cancelled. This staggering number suggests at least two things. One, that the authorities concerned have been well aware of the deceitful activity but did little to put a stop to it. And second that corruption is rampant in various passport offices.
For, it would not be possible for any person to acquire multiple passports without insider collusion. Which is why the previous pardons have had little effect, and for the same reason the present one will not yield a different result. The government needs to pay attention to this aspect of the problem as well.
Resolving the issue though is not rocket science, but it requires a sincere effort to put an end to this trouble once and for all. The National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) can make that task easy.
It issues national identity cards, necessary for obtaining a passport, after taking finger prints of all applicants for the simple but powerful reason that the ridge arrangement on every finger is unique to every individual, and hence a foolproof means of identification. All the Ministry of Interior needs to set things right is to cancel all passports which do not match Nadra’s record. It would be better off that way rather than using tried and tested method that has failed to deliver.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022