Daily Times

Sir: In our country, government has authorised grade 17 and above officials to attest the copies of testimonials and other documents of common citizens. However, these officials often hesitate to attest these papers. They often tell their peons to stop those visitors who come to get their papers attested.

They get annoyed if you visit them a second time for the attestation of your documents. They sit in their air-conditioned offices and enjoy tea parties but have no time to sign a few documents. The people belonging to the lower social strata suffer a lot as they do not have acquaintance with grade 17 or above government officers.

The people coming from far off areas face more problems. With original documents in their hands, they go from one office to another for the attestation of their documents but find no one to help them out. They are subjected to mental torture while seeking endorsement for their genuine documents. The officers show arrogance. It is pathetic to note that National Database Registration Authority officials hand over a form to visitors to get it attested from a government officer even after examining each and every original document.

The process of getting your documents attested becomes more cumbersome if you do not have any access to a grade 17 or above government officer. These government officials will attest forms of their acquaintances without even checking the original documents but will not help or attest a document of a common citizen standing outside their office for hours. They take false pride when a common man comes to them with a request twice or thrice and they send him back considering themselves more powerful.

The attestation of original documents in this digital world has become an unnecessary procedure. The government should take measures to resolve this problem. Official documents should be made machine-readable so that time and money of the poor could be saved.

AROOJ SHABBIR

Islamabad