Living in Pakistan is not easy. With the passage of time, the challenges are becoming varied and the solutions seem more daunting. It may be a case of inefficiency or lack of infrastructure, but it’s the average citizen who has to bear the brunt.

The procedure of acquiring a passport should not be tedious but the long queues outside the passport office in Karachi tell a different tale. In the absence of clear guidelines, most people run from pillar to post in search of the relevant office, district wise. On entering the premises, agents try to lure them into hiring them for the task in exchange for a commission.

However, authorities have finally come down hard on these elements. “No such agents are permitted within the compound now and one just needs to bring the requisite documents to apply for a passport”, says Zulfiqar Talpur, deputy director, department of immigration and passport, “but we do need cooperation from the public to end their control altogether. It is mostly the labour class that is incapable of managing paperwork and gets exploited by these agents.”

In the past, strict actions were initiated against many agents but it fell short of expectations merely due to lack of evidence or because of their connections. But this is just one of the issues encountered by the people applying for, or renewing, a passport.

While ordinary citizens withstand long wait for documentation, a smaller majority rushes through the exhausting procedure in connivance with the officials. This is an unfair practice but then unfortunately titles and positions take precedence over everything else.

Talpur is well aware of the grievances about the slow speed of work but refutes the impression of it being done deliberately.

“We must be realistic about the problem. The population of Karachi has grown tremendously while we have tried to keep pace with the growing needs. We do not face any shortage but receive 500 applications on a daily basis at each centre and manage to meet this demand. And do keep in mind that there are four such centres operating in Karachi. So you can well imagine the workload that we handle.”

Factors like expected population growth and mass migration to cities must be kept in mind while formulating policies for the future. There is a need to expand the range of services to be more accessible to a larger cross section of the population. Mr Talpur divulges plans of opening new centres in Malir and Nazimabad in the near future. He is positive that this would not only improve efficiency of the department but would facilitate the public by providing services to many close to their homes.

In the past, there had been complaints about the facility lacking in provisions for applicants with young children or the elderly; however, these lapses have been pretty much rectified. “We have set up separate counters for families, and then we have placed five water coolers to help visitors in this hot and humid weather,” says Talpur.

Devising an organised working system that benefits the people in every possible way is bound to create goodwill among citizens. “We have a computerised set up and share data with Nadra so there are no discrepancies. Our goal is to serve the people to the best of our abilities but the public also needs to be mindful of inordinate delays like during the summer vacation or the Haj season when we are over burdened,” he explains.