ISLAMABAD, Oct 5: The government has finally decided to cancel over 2,000 blue passports allegedly issued to unauthorised persons in violation of rules during the five years of the PPP-led government.

The order of cancellation of these passports was passed by Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan during a meeting on Saturday.

Most of these blue passports which had allegedly been sold out to private individuals by an organised network were issued between July 2010 and February this year. Most holders of these passports have already proceeded abroad because blue passports allow entry into a number of countries without a visa.

Even after disclosure of the scam through which many of those at the helm of affairs were believed to have made billions of rupees, the business continued till February.

Early this year, three individuals possessing blue passports had been detained at Lahore airport when on demand of a no objection certificate from their department for proceeding abroad, they disclosed that they

were not government servants and that they had paid Rs2 million each to obtain the travel document meant only for government employees.

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) was subsequently asked to conduct a thorough inquiry into the scam, but no meaningful probe took place.

Soon after assuming charge as Director General of Immigration and Passports in March this year, Zulfikar Cheema (now serving as Inspector General of Motorway Police) had sent a number of summaries to the Interior Ministry — one of which recommended immediate cancellation of 2,002 official passports issued to unauthorised individuals.

He had also suspended a number of officials of his department for their alleged involvement in the scam.

During a meeting on Saturday, Director General of Immigrations and Passports Sultan Sikandar Raja briefed the interior minister about the performance and initiatives launched by his directorate.

The minister issued directives that blue passports be issued only to entitled persons and there would be no relaxation in rules in this regards.

Mr Raja said a computerised check had been placed on the process of issuing blue passports to curb its misuse in future. He said facilitation desks had been established at regional offices to register complaints of the general public.