GUJRAT: The National Highways and Motorway Police (NHMP) demands shifting of the regional passport office from the GT Road as it has become a major cause of traffic jams on the thoroughfare.

According to a letter written by the regional head of the NH&MP to the authorities and local administration, at least 1,500 to 2,000 people visit the passport office daily and they often park their cars and motorcycles on the greenbelt of the GT Road. Moreover, these visitors sit on both sides of the median as well as at the greenbelt which hinders the flow of traffic at that point.

The letter adds that there is no parking space available for the visitors while the queue of applicants also reaches the GT Road.

A senior official of the NHMP told Dawn that the issue has been brought into the notice of the passport office many times in the past but to no avail.

He says now the NHMP has sent a letter to the DC to shift the passport office to any other suitable site.

It is pertinent to mention that the current building of the passport office is owned by the federal government’s Directorate General of Immigration and Passports Islamabad and the office was established more than a decade ago.

Newborn kidnapped: A newborn girl was kidnapped by an unidentified woman from the Aziz Bhatti Shaheed Teaching Hospital (ABSTH) on Tuesday.

Iqra Shahbaz Bhatti, a resident of Shahdaula Road, had given birth to a baby girl through C-section late on Monday night and her sister-in-law was present along her as an attendant in the ward.

An unidentified woman pretending to be an attendant of another patient engaged her in talk and developed closeness. She asked her to sleep since she was attending her sister as well as the baby for long hours.

When Iqra’s sister-in-law woke up at around 4:15am, she found her niece missing from the bed. She reported the matter to the staff concerned of the hospital.

Police registered a case against unidentified suspect on report of Shahbaz Bhatti, the father of the kidnapped baby.

A spokesman for Gujrat police said District Police Officer Mustanser Atta Bajwa had taken notice of the incident and constituted a team to trace the kidnapper.

Published in Dawn, July 11th, 2024