Passport row creates unholy mess in Pak

Passport row creates unholy mess in Pak

AFP[ FRIDAY, JANUARY 21, 2005 05:03:44 AM ]

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ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's radical Islamic parties are seething over the
absence of a religion section in the new national passport, accusing
President Pervez Musharraf of undermining the country's Muslim
identity.


An alliance of the hardline groups has staged nationwide protests
against the travel documents in recent weeks, highlighting Pakistan's
continuing split personality when it comes to matters of religion.

The government introduced machine-readable travel documents late last
year. According to Information Minister Sheikh Rashid more than 80,000
have already been issued to citizens.

But while the previous passport contained a column for religious
identification as well as the words "Islamic Republic of Pakistan"
written on the face, the two elements are missing from the new one.

Opponents say the document's "secularization" is deliberate and part
of Musharraf's agenda to promote secular values at the behest of the
United States, alongside earlier moves to reform Pakistan's religious
schools.

The Islamists further contend the Qadiyani sect - declared a
non-Muslim minority in Pakistan by parliament in 1974 because of its
belief that Mohammad was not the last prophet - would benefit from the
revised passport.

"Members of the sect will be able to get a Saudi visa by posing as
Muslims and enter Islams holiest shrines in Mecca and Medina,
bypassing the ban on admission of non-believers to the sacred sites,"
said a spokesman for Islamic alliance, known as the Muttahida
Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), or United Action Party.