The federal government has set in motion a plan to fully digitize Pakistan’s passport and immigration system, with Federal Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi directing the newly appointed Director General of Immigration and Passports to lead sweeping reforms aimed at converting the existing framework into a completely paperless operation. The directive followed the appointment of Chaudhry Muhammad Ali Randhawa, a BS-20 officer of the Pakistan Administrative Service and former Chief Commissioner Islamabad, to the position of Director General under the Interior and Narcotics Control Division. An official notification issued by the Establishment Division confirmed the posting, which took effect immediately as part of a broader administrative reshuffle at the federal level.
The reform initiative, as outlined by officials, will focus on three interconnected priorities: simplifying procedures for citizens, improving transparency in service delivery, and significantly reducing the processing delays that have long been a source of public frustration with passport and immigration services. By moving toward a fully paperless system, the government aims to streamline what has traditionally been a documentation-heavy process, cutting down on manual handling, reducing the scope for procedural bottlenecks, and making passport issuance and immigration services faster and more accessible for people across the country. Public convenience has been set as the central objective of the restructuring, with efficiency gains intended to translate directly into a better experience for ordinary citizens rather than serving only administrative or bureaucratic ends.
Randhawa’s appointment came after he was removed from his earlier post as Chief Commissioner Islamabad and directed to report to the Establishment Division before receiving the new assignment, a sequence that formed part of a wider reshuffle in the federal capital’s administrative structure. In the same round of changes, Lieutenant Retired Sohail Ashraf was named as the new Chief Commissioner Islamabad. A Grade-20 Pakistan Administrative Service officer, Ashraf previously served as Secretary Communications and Works in the Punjab government and has held field assignments as Deputy Commissioner Faisalabad and Deputy Commissioner Mandi Bahauddin, bringing substantial provincial and district-level administrative experience to his new role in the capital.
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