OUR country has always lagged behind in adoption of latest technology apparently due to disorganised governance. The same has been witnessed in case of introducing e-passports.
Several deadlines were given in the past to adopt the same yet still machine-readable passports are being used by our people.
Talking to media persons in Karachi the other day, Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed disclosed that Pakistan would launch an e-passport system by June this year and services of a German company have been acquired for this purpose.
One expects that this time around this will not remain a promise but also be put into practice.
Indeed benefits of e-passports with an embedded microchip containing biometric information about the holder are very significant.
These digital passports cannot be forged or copied. The launch of e-passport service will also help airport authorities to complete travel procedure within the shortest span of time.
This indeed will facilitate quick processing of passengers, reduce logistical impact of travelling and make current airport structures able to handle more traffic with same resources.
It is worth noting that e-passports are in vogue in more than 2/3 of countries in the world since its first implementation in 2008.
Shifting to an e-Passport system could present few challenges to us in terms of expertise, hence necessary training must be provided to relevant staff including those deployed at airports to take maximum advantage of this facility, which significantly improves security of citizen’s travel documents and also enhances tools-at-hand for travel monitoring.
While Interior Minister has reduced fee of 10-year passport, we are confident that fee for e-passport will also be kept on lower side in order to encourage people to convert to this new system.
At the same time it is also important that network of passport offices is further enhanced to ensure better service delivery to people.
Difficulties faced by overseas Pakistanis in getting their passports and renewal of identity cards should also be looked into and addressed properly.
