Pakistan is taking concrete steps towards a modernised, technology-driven airport clearance system that would replace the current fragmented multi-agency checking process with a unified one-window arrangement, using biometric e-gates, facial recognition technology, and smart document and baggage scanners to dramatically reduce wait times for passengers. The initiative came under detailed discussion at a high-level meeting chaired by Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi in Islamabad, attended by Minister of State for Interior Tallal Chaudhry, Interior Secretary Muhammad Khurram Agha, Defence Secretary Lieutenant General Retired Muhammad Ali, Federal Investigation Agency Director General Dr Usman Anwar, and other senior officials from the relevant agencies.
The urgency of the reform is underscored by the scale of passenger traffic Pakistan’s airports are now managing. According to Civil Aviation Authority data, Pakistan handled 25.4 million domestic and international passengers in 2025, a 12 percent increase year-on-year, a volume that has made congestion at major airports a recurring grievance for travellers. At present, separate checks by immigration and the Anti-Narcotics Force can take up to 40 minutes per passenger during peak hours, a situation that travel operators have described as a significant operational burden. The proposed one-window system would replace these parallel queues with joint counters and a unified checking platform, with officials agreeing during the meeting to ensure close coordination among all agencies operating at airports. Interior Minister Naqvi stated that unified checking on a single scanner by all institutions would save time and facilitate passengers, while reaffirming the government’s commitment to reducing congestion through interagency coordination.
The technological backbone of the new system centres on e-gates equipped with biometric passport scanners and facial recognition, which are expected to cut average immigration clearance time from the current three to five minutes per passenger to under 45 seconds. The e-gates will be linked to the Federal Investigation Agency’s exit control list, passenger name records, and Interpol databases, enabling real-time flagging of high-risk travellers without slowing the processing of ordinary passengers. Modern baggage and document scanners will also be installed to speed up verification and improve detection capability across the board. The phased rollout is expected to begin at Islamabad International Airport, with progress on e-gate installation already having been reviewed at the meeting. Naqvi was clear that the push for faster clearance must not come at the expense of enforcement rigour, citing Federal Investigation Agency data showing that over 1,200 human smuggling attempts were intercepted at airports in 2025 alone, a figure that underscores the need for the upgraded system to be as effective at detecting threats as it is at facilitating legitimate travellers.
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