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Pak consulate will take on distribution of Nicop, POC

DUBAI — The Pakistan Consulate in Dubai will, this week, take back 20,000 National Identity Cards for Overseas Pakistani (Nicop) and Pakistan Origin Cards (POC) from the courier company responsible for distribution of the cards to the Pakistani community residing in Dubai and the Northern Emirates.

The consulate will now distribute the cards themselves through the centre. Consulate’s contract with TCS, the Pakistan-based courier company, was signed two years ago so as to facilitate the community, but according to several community members, it was not benefitting the community in a great way. The move comes as part of the consulate’s upgradation of its facilities and installation of new, hi-tech machines for Nicop and Machine Readable Passports (MRPs).

Speaking to Khaleej Times, Head of Chancery at the Pakistan Consulate in Dubai, Imran Mirza said that a Swift Centre was set up in the consulate premises by the officials of National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra).

Deputy Director, Nadra, Captain Adeeb Safvi and Manzoor Akhtar Malik, Director Headquarters, Nadra, were in the country recently to oversee the setting up of the centre, he informed.

Explaining the concept, Mirza said that the computer system — linked with Nadra’s system in Islamabad — made it possible to register for online cards locally. "The cards will be made in Islamabad but all entries will be done here while all the data will be sent to Islamabad through the computer system. The Dubai consulate is the first Pakistani mission in the world that will be using the system,” he explained.

He also said that the consulate premises were being revamped to accommodate the machines.

“People now will not need waste time in filling forms. All data will be entered by trained staff to make it error-free, finger prints will be taken while only the signatures will be done manually. All this data will be sent via the computer system to Islamabad where the cards will be issued within a short period. The centre will be fully operational very soon and this will definitely help the Pakistani expatriates in getting their cards in a short period,” he added.