Rehman Malik approved the passport office in 23 countries in a meeting attended by Secretary Interior, Additional Secretary Interior, Director General I&P and Project Director Machine Readable Passports, an official said. He said that the meeting reviewed the problems of people related to issuance of Machine Readable Passports (MRP).
The Interior Minister approved establishment of 23 passport offices in 23 different countries including Italy (Milan), South Africa (Pretoria), Afghanistan (Kabul), Denmark (Copenhagen), China (Beijing), Hong Kong (Hong Kong), Belgium and Luxemburg (Brussels), Japan (Tokyo), South Korea (Seoul), Jordan (Amman), Iran (Tehran), Singapore (Singapore), Thailand (Bangkok), Austria (Vienna), Philippines (Manila), Egypt (Cairo), Bangladesh (Dhaka), Sri Lanka (Colombo), Nigeria (Abuja), Turkey (Istanbul), Brazil (Brasilia), Libya (Tripoli) & Darussalam.
Rehman Malik directed DG I&P to ensure smooth functioning of these 23 passport offices by mid January, 2013, he said. He said that I&P official informed the meeting that twelve passport offices were ready with MRP in the different places aboard namely Ottawa, Kuala Lumpur, Damascus, Madrid, Sydney, Bradford, Tashkent, Washington D.C, Athens, Vancouver, the Hague and Houston.
The official said that Rehman Malik had ordered three shifts in I&P headquarters, Islamabad to clear the entire backlog within one week. He ordered an inquiry headed by Additional Secretary-II, Ministry of Interior to find out the reasons as to why this backlog is there? He said that the Interior Minister had taken serious notice of blockage of promotion of Female Officials in Federal Investigation Agency (FIA). 120 FIA Female Officials have not been considered for promotion for the last ten years.