Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: By next year, Pakistanis are expected to have e-passports which will not only curtail human trafficking but also eliminate forgery of travelling documents.

Chairing a high-level meeting, Minister for Interior Affairs Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan approved e-passport project. The digital documents are expected to be fully available by 2017. The minister said that the forgery and misuse of travel documents had proved to be damaging for the national image.

He also said that the human traffickers forge travel documents with sophistication and the introduction of e-passports that cannot be copied or forged would help in curbing it. “We will ensure the elimination of human trafficking from our soil with the introduction of e-passports,” he added.

– In-house digital printing machine –

The director general of the Immigration and Passports also gave a detailed briefing to the minister on various features of the e-passport which will contain a microchip to store biometric information of an individual that will aid in the authentication of the holder.

More information could also be added in the chip if the need arises but that information could only be added by the Pakistani immigration and passport authorities. Nisar directed the officials to arrange an in-house digital printing machine with the latest technology to keep security and quality in check.