JEDDAH, 17 October 2004 — The Pakistan Consulate General is soon introducing separate counters for female visitors. “Separate counters will be started soon for dealing with female visitors and one-window operation will be ensured,” Consul General Masood Akhtar told a community meeting here recently. All consulate officers were present at the meeting.
The consul general said all overseas Pakistanis were equal in the eyes of the state servants, irrespective of their class and creed. “We’ve ensured that they are treated honorably and very nicely at the consulate and complaints regarding behavior of the officials are redressed promptly,” he said, adding that visitors are free to meet him for an hour daily from 11 a.m.
He listened to various complaints and suggestions made by participants and issued instructions for immediate action. Community members raised matters related to passport issuance, renewal, procedure and fees, as well as NADRA cards and consular visits to the cities.
The consulate offers application forms for renewal, addition and deletion free of cost to the applicants who can fill the forms themselves. If the forms are not correctly filled then the staff guides them.
Explaining the obligation of obtaining NADRA cards, he said that it was the decision of the government of Pakistan to issue and renew passports for five years at the presentation of computerized national identity cards. The step was taken to check illegal immigration.
However, the Directorate of Immigration & Passports has especially allowed issuance of passports for one year to overseas Pakistanis on presentation of old NICs, he said.
Whenever the new card is presented, the passport is extended to its full period. In most of the cases NADRA cards are issued to the applicants within three months. “These cards carry a lot of benefits and incentives for overseas Pakistanis and are useful for plot allotment, school admission and other purposes back home,” he added.
