Passport Blues

Through the courtesy of your newspaper I wish to draw the attention of our interior ministry regarding some nasty things happening in passport office Saddar, Karachi. Even after 73 years of independence, we are yet to learn the meaning and importance of surname. I visited Saddar passport office last week to apply for my granddaughter’s passport who is just 7 months old. She was accompanied by her parents. When my son told the data operator to write our surname (which is Suriya) in the column given for surname, the data operator refused to comply and wrote my son’s name instead. Though our surname is mentioned on our CNICs as well. The passport office needs to be taught the difference between father’s name and surname. Then the data operator demanded original B form which my son had unfortunately forgotten to carry in a hurry but he had a photocopy. He was made to go home and bring the original copy which took almost one hour. The data operator could have verified the photocopy of B form from his system because he had full access to NADRA database. After completing all process of passport, the officer refused to accept my granddaughter’s passport form and asked my son to get it attested by a 17 grade government official with his Name, Designation, CNIC and Cell no. My son insisted that he and his wife already has a passport and the child is just 7 months old but he did not listen. This process of attestation delayed the form submission by one whole day as the submission counter closes at 1 pm. Last but not the least, a sum of PKR 25.00 is charged as bank charges along with PKR 4.00 as federal excise duty. I wonder if accepting a challan is such a herculean task for National Bank of Pakistan that they charge 25.00+4.00 (Rs.29.00) as bank charges. Will the interior minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed and his ministry take notice of the above and bring some improvement?
M. RAFIQUE ZAKARIA
Karachi