A change in passport data for women has caused outrage on social media. The issue involves a new rule requiring a married woman’s passport to show her husband’s name instead of her father’s. This has raised concerns about the inconsistency between policies of different government institutions and discrimination against women.
According to the new policy, women can keep their father’s name on their CNIC but not on their passport. Additionally, if a woman is divorced, a new category called “ex-husband name” will be added to her passport, especially if she is traveling with children from her previous marriage.
Read More: Government to Revise Passport Policy for Married Women
This controversy has put the interior ministry and the Director General of Passports, Mustafa Jamal Qazi, under scrutiny. Qazi revealed the plan to include the ex-husband category during an interview.
Bushra Gohar, a politician and senior leader of the National Democratic Movement, criticized the proposed change on X (formerly Twitter), calling it “ridiculous and discriminatory.” She questioned whether the same rule would apply to divorced men. Another user on X expressed anger over the idea that a woman has to prove she is the mother of her own children. One user pointed out, “Divorced women are divorced because they want to be free from ex-husbands, and that freedom includes passports.”
