The contract employees of the passport department observing strike today also, which has sent the departments routine work in haywire, while the citizen applicants within and outside the country facing difficulties in getting their passports issued/renewed. The contract employees of the department of immigration and passport, protesting against their not being made permanent, are on strike, which has shut the local as well as the international automated system, making issuance/renewal of passports to the Pakistani applicants here and abroad impossible. The protesting employees said that they were working on contract for the last six years and permanent employment was now their right. They said that their protest strike would continue until the acceptance of their demands.