Federal Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi has ordered the immediate removal and suspension of the entire staff at the gujranwala passport office after discovering the facility locked and deserted during a surprise visit.

The unannounced inspection, which took place on 18 May 2024, exposed severe administrative negligence as the office was found completely shut down well before its official closing time, leaving dozens of helpless citizens stranded outside in the heat.

Key Details of the Gujranwala Passport Office Raid

  • Action Taken: Immediate suspension and transfer of all officers and staff members.
  • Reason for Action: Office found locked, empty, and non-functional during official working hours.
  • Inquiry Launched: A high-level investigation has been initiated against the zonal head and the staff.
  • Alternative Measures: The Interior Ministry has directed the passport department to deploy fresh staff immediately to prevent public inconvenience.

The Surprise Raid and Public Outrage

During his sudden visit to the gujranwala passport office, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi was confronted by angry citizens waiting outside the locked building. The applicants, many of whom had traveled from remote rural areas of the Gujranwala division, complained that staff members regularly leave early and treat visitors with absolute indifference.

Naqvi expressed intense anger at the situation, noting that government employees are paid from public taxes to serve the citizens, not to lock offices and head home early. He immediately phoned the Director General of Immigration and Passports, ordering the instant suspension of the entire shift and the registration of a formal inquiry.

This decisive move comes at a time when public frustration with the passport department is at an all-time high across Pakistan.

Context of the Nationwide Passport Crisis

The closure of the gujranwala passport office is not an isolated issue of laziness; it compounds a massive national crisis. For the past several months, millions of Pakistanis have faced unprecedented delays in receiving their passports. The Directorate General of Immigration and Passports (DGIP) has struggled with a severe shortage of imported lamination paper and modern printing machinery, creating a backlog of over 800,000 passports.

With citizens already waiting three to four months for standard passport delivery, the shutting down of regional offices before official hours is a double blow to applicants who have paid urgent processing fees.

What You Should Do Now

If you are a resident of Gujranwala or nearby districts and need to process your passport application, here are the practical steps you should take:

  • Use the Online Portal: Avoid unnecessary physical visits by paying your fees via the official "Passport Fee Asaan" mobile application or the web portal.
  • Check Office Status: Before visiting the gujranwala passport office, verify if the new staff has been fully deployed. You can contact the regional helpline or check the official DGIP website (dgip.gov.pk) for operational updates.
  • Consider Executive Centers: If your application is extremely urgent, consider visiting the nearest Executive Passport Office in Lahore or Sialkot, where processing times and staff availability are more tightly monitored.
  • Track Your Application: Keep a close eye on your application status online using your tracking 15-digit code to ensure it has not been stalled by the administrative shake-up.

What to Watch Next

This sudden crackdown by Mohsin Naqvi is expected to trigger a wave of surprise inspections across other public service offices in Punjab, including NADRA centers and land record authorities.

Watch out for the deployment of a new administrative team at the Gujranwala branch within the next 48 hours. Additionally, the federal government is reportedly in the process of procuring new high-speed printing machines from Germany, which officials claim will resolve the nationwide printing backlog by June 2024. Whether this administrative purge actually improves public service delivery in the long run remains to be seen.