President of Pakistan Mamnoon Hussain has awarded Civil Award (Sitara-i-Imtiaz) to the Zulfiqar Ahmad Cheema, Head of the Department of Passport & Immigration in recognition of his services for restoring the image of the department and country. In the middle of year 2012, Department of Passport & Immigration, was in such a dire state that it was unable to issue new passports to the masses. The situation caused inconvenience to the thousands of passport seekers.
Eight million applications were pending till the start of the year 2013. To resolve the issue, then government appointed hard-working and reputed officer Zulfiqar Ahmad Cheema as Head of the Department of Passport & Immigration. His exceptional leadership capabilities brought life to the languishing department in a short time. Cheema succeeded to clear backlog in just three months. He not only controlled the crisis but also made the department a dignified and respectable institution. -PR