LAHORE – Due to technical fault in the software of Abbott Road Passport office, applicants seeking passport were being referred to Garden Town office for the last 15 days, multiplying the miseries of visitors, said applicants gathered outside the office on Wednesday.
Since the Garden Town office was already being run short of staff and now they have to entertain applicants coming from Abbott Road office.
A massive crowd was seen in the Garden Town said, an official said.
An unpleasant incident took place when reporting team of Waqt TV visited Garden Town office to know the problems of the applicants as they were beaten by security staff of the office.
The reporting team included Saeed Lodhi, reporter, Mazhar Shehzad, cameraman and a driver on duty.
After listening to the problems of the applicants, the team entered the office to know the view point of the Immigration and Passport assistant director who refused to comment on the issue.
When the team was coming out of the office the security staff held them and started torturing them. In the meantime, the team called the local police to help them. Police rescued the reporting team but no case was registered.
As per applicants there was an agent mafia minting money from the innocent people. Some applicants said they were intending to perform Umrah but due to delay in issuance of passport they were unable to perform the same on time.
Normal passports were being issued after two to three months while urgent passports were being issued within 10 to 15 days. The visitors demanded of the Ministry of Interior to intervene and ensure the timely issuance of passports to them.