ISLAMABAD: Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) has handed over 12,000 Pakistani passports that were being used by Afghan nationals to Pakistani Embassy as the government launched a probe into the allegations of issuance of identity cards and passports to illegal migrants, media reports said.
Federal Government soonafter it received the huge number of fake passports has launched probe into matter and a committee has been formed to investigate the recovery of fake Pakistani passports from 12,000 Afghan nationals in Saudi Arabiam the reports further said.
The Interior Ministry has formed a five-member committee under the chairmanship of Mustafa Jamal Kazi, Director General, Passport and Immigration.
Besides Mustafa Kazi, the committee includes senior officers of the ministry, the National Database & Registration Authority (NADRA) and the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA). An officer of the directorate will perform the duties of secretary for the committee.
The investigating committee has been given 15 days to make suggestions on how to prevent the problem in the future. It will also fix responsibility on NADRA, FIA and passport officers involved in the scam.
Last week, authorities in Saudi Arabia recovered 12,000 Pakistani passports from Afghan nationals.
The development came as law enforcement agencies launched a crackdown on unscrupulous elements involved in issuing fake citizenship documents to illegal migrants in the country, especially Afghans.
The Saudi authorities had informed the Pakistani embassy of recovering a large number of Pakistani passports from Afghan citizens.
Back then it was reported that as a result of the investigations, the main suspect Umar Javed had been arrested in Lahore for making fake passports.
Javed’s arrest came after a former officer and a serving grade-15 officer of the Passport Directorate were arrested and probed. Pakistani passports were issued to Afghan citizens on fake identity cards.
The same week, NADRA Chairman Lieutenant General Munir Afsar informed senators that some of his organisation’s staff were involved in the issuance of fake Computerized National Identity Cards (CNICs).
The NADRA chief made the revelation while addressing the Senate Committee on Interior when it took up the issue of fake CNICs, availability of citizens’ family data in the black market and issuance of multiple SIMs on a single CNIC, which are being used in illegal activities.
The NADRA chairman informed the lawmakers that action was taken against the employees engaged in any form of illegal activity, with around 84 officials suspended, so far.
“However, employees escape punishment due to the absence of a law dealing with privacy matters,” he told the committee. The Senate panel recommended modern measures to address these issues.
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