‘The Saudi authorities have informed the Pakistani embassy in Riyadh of recovering a large number of Pakistani passports from Afghan citizens’
More than 12,000 Pakistani passports have been seized by Saudi Arabian authorities from Afghan nationals, Geo News reported on Thursday.
The development occurs when law enforcement agencies intensify their efforts to target dishonest individuals who provide phony citizenship credentials to undocumented immigrants, particularly Afghans.
According to sources, the Saudi government has alerted the Pakistani embassy in Riyadh that they have found a significant number of Pakistani passports among Afghan nationals.
A joint inquiry has been launched by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and the Director General of Immigration and Passports, Mustafa Kazi.
The primary suspect, Umar Javed, has been detained in Lahore for creating fake passports.
Javed was detained after a grade 15 official and a former officer of the Passport Directorate were detained and questioned. According to the reports, phony identification documents were used to award Afghan nationals Pakistani passports.
On Thursday, National Database Registration Authority (Nadra) Chairman Lieutenant General Munir Afsar told senators that some of the personnel of his organization were engaged in the creation of phony Computerised National Identity Cards (CNICs).
The Nadra chief revealed it to the Senate Committee on Interior when it was discussing the issue of fake CNICs, the availability of citizens’ family data on the black market, and the issuing of several SIMs on a single CNIC, all of which are being utilized in illicit activities.
The meeting was presided over by Senator Mohsin Aziz.
The Nadra chairman told the lawmakers that 84 officials have already been suspended for engaging in any illicit activity and that action has been taken against those personnel.
He informed the committee that “employees escape punishment due to the absence of a law dealing with privacy matters.” The Senate panel suggested contemporary solutions to these problems.
Pakistan has set a deadline of November 1 for all Afghans residing illegally to return to their country due to an upsurge in terrorist attacks.
Interim Interior Minister Sarfraz Bugti stated that eight of the 11 militants involved in recent attacks on two Pakistani military installations were Afghans. Additionally, eight of the 24 suicide bombings that have occurred in Pakistan this year have been carried out by Afghan nationals, he added.__The Friday Times
