Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Overseas Pakistanis living in 25 countries are in danger of being deported from October 1, 2016 as the ministry of Interior fails to extend machine readable passport (MRP) facility.

Internationally, manual passports will not be accepted by the end of September 2016 in any part of the world while Pakistani missions in 25 countries still do not have the MRP facility. This was told to National Assembly Standing Committee on Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development, which met here on Tuesday at parliament house under the Chairmanship of Mir Aamer Ali Khan Magsi, MNA. A representative of the foreign affairs ministry told the committee that despite several reminders being given to the ministry of interior to provide MRP facility in all missions abroad, 25 missions still do not have the facility. The ministry of interior did not take any action and, as a result, from October this year, the expatriates in these countries will be unable to travel due to invalid manual passports. The Foreign Ministry official requested the committee to ask the interior ministry to provide the MRP facility to the Pakistani mission.

The committee expressed serious concerns over non-availability of MRP facility in some missions. The expatriates would be in trouble from October 2016 and directed the ministry of interior to arrange for provision of the MRP facility before the end of September 2016. The committee also said experts should be sent to those countries where the MRP facility is not available, so that all manual passports can be converted to MRPs. Officer of Immigration and Passports informed the committee that the government has already installed MRP facility in 80 missions abroad. In those countries where the facility was not available, the expatriates could get machine readable passports from the nearest country of availability.

The Minister for Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development assured the committee that the issue of payments of 8,500 Pakistani workers at Dammam KSA would be resolved at the end of September 2016. There were total 2.2 million workers in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Among those, only 8,500 Pakistani workers were confronting the issue of non-payment of salaries only in two companies, namely Saad Trading and Contracting Company and Saudi Oger Company. The minister assured the committee that the workers would be paid from Baitul Mal as instructed by Prime Minister of Pakistan.

The committee recommended that the NICOP fee might be abolished or decreased to minimum level. Currently, the fee for NICOP was Rs 2,500 which a worker must make before going abroad.

The committee recommended that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs should take up the issue of registration of OEP licenses with the Saudi Embassy. The committee approved unanimously the Factories (Amendment) Bill 2016 moved by Ms. Asiya Naz Tanoli, MNA. This amendment aims to make it compulsory for the factories to provide day care centres to the children of female workers.

Ch. Abid Raza, Malik Muhammad Uzair Khan, Ms. Sabiha Nazir, and Minister for Overseas Pakistanis and HRD Pir Sadruddin Shah Rashdi attended the meeting, besides officials of Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development.