Pakistan Senate approves restrictions on blue passports — The Express Tribune

Pakistan’s Senate in Islamabad unanimously approved a bill amending the Passports Act of 1974. The document provides for ending the automatic issuance of blue passports to the children of civil servants. As The Express Tribune reports, the bill was introduced in the Senate by Senator Abdul Qadir.

Who receives blue passports

In Pakistan, the Directorate General of Immigration and Passports issues blue passports as free official documents to designated government officials, state representatives and other authorized persons for official travel.

During the debate, Abdul Qadir stated that children of civil servants at grade 21 were entitled to such passports, while members of the National Assembly received this opportunity after being elected. He insisted that the same principle should apply to senators: either this opportunity for civil servants should be abolished or it should be granted to members of the upper house of parliament.

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Senator Abid Sher Ali also questioned the restrictions that, according to him, officials from the Interior Ministry and the passport authority impose on parliamentarians. He said that senators are allegedly required to obtain a no-objection certificate (NOC) from a government body in order to exercise official privileges.

Calls to investigate the issuance of documents

Senator Dilawar Khan called for an investigation into the issuance of about 30,000 blue passports. He said that officials responsible for processing them should be held accountable if the documents were obtained by people without proper entitlement, and also proposed checking the period during which they were issued.

Minister of State for Interior and Senator Talal Chaudhry said that the number of blue passport holders had been reduced by 30,000 — from approximately 75,000 to 45,000. According to him, the cancelled documents did not include the passports of political representatives. Chaudhry also said that a large number of such passports could affect Pakistan’s international passport ranking and negotiations on visa-free travel with European countries, Gulf states, Canada and other countries.