Pakistan’s leaders might make new passport rules for married and divorced women. A top official revealed this tough news for the divorced women of Pakistan. A lawyer asked a judge to stop adding husbands’ names to passports.
Lawyer Khadija Bukhari highlighted policy issues. She mentioned NADRA and DGIP policies. NADRA allows women to keep their father’s name.
Even after they get married, women can still keep their father’s name on their ID card.
But when they want to get a passport, the passport office says they have to change their father’s name to their husband’s name.
Passports use information from NADRA. Women who don’t change their name to their husband’s name may have problems.
First, they have to update their ID card. Then they can get a new passport.
The new passport rule is focusing on Pakistani women who are married.
Women Can’t Remove Ex’s Name from ID Card
Bukhari told the news about her experience. She initially added her husband’s name when they registered their marriage. But later, she decided to keep her father’s name.
When she tried to renew her passport, the passport office said she needed to update her CNIC first to show her new marital status.
Bukhari wondered why NADRA lets women keep their father’s names on CNICs, but passports require their husband’s names.
The Director-General of Immigration and Passports, Mustafa Jamal Kazi, explained:
“It’s a rule that passports have to follow international agreements. CNICs are only used in Pakistan.”
Kazi said that rules made by parliament guide their work. A committee led by the interior secretary reviews passport policies, focusing on changes for married women.
Kazi suggested a plan. He wanted to add a new part of the form. It would show an ex-husband’s name. This will help check information from other countries.
What if a lady got married and divorced many times? Would her passport list all her ex-husbands?
Justice? Denied!
In 2018, Tatheer Fatima went to the Supreme Court to change her name to “Bint-e-Pakistan” on her ID card and remove her father’s name. Her father hadn’t registered her or paid for her. Because of this, she couldn’t get an ID card.
Fatima said, “People always ask about my father.”
The court quickly said no to her request.
When a woman leaves a man, why should she still have his name on her ID? We can’t choose our parents, but we can choose our husband or wife.
So why does a woman have to always remember she was married to him?
By Kazi’s own words, divorces are often bitter, so why does he want to make women do more work to get their passport?
The world has changed and so has Pakistan, in some ways. But it looks like a Pakistani woman can’t get away from her ex and get rights to change names in her ID cards.
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