Additional Secretary Salman Chaudhry informed the Senate’s Committee on Human Rights that Saudi Arabia and the UAE had been on the verge of imposing a complete ban on Pakistani passports, but the move was halted at the last moment.

He cautioned that once such a ban is enforced, reversing it would be extremely difficult.

A ministry official added that at present, the UAE is issuing visas only to holders of blue (official) and diplomatic passports.

Senator Samina Mumtaz Zehri, chairperson of the Senate Human Rights Committee, said the ban is reportedly linked to a few Pakistanis being involved in criminal activities in the UAE.

She noted that the committee had been informed that in recent days, only a limited number of visas have been issued to Pakistanis, and obtaining them has become increasingly difficult.

The Interior Ministry officials informed the committee that interference by neighbouring countries in Pakistan’s passport system had facilitated the issuance of fake documents.

Several months ago, Saudi Arabia had deported a large number of Pakistanis, many of whom were actually Afghan nationals posing as Pakistanis.

Currently, 21,647 Pakistanis are reported to be imprisoned across 61 countries, the committee was informed.