Pakistan retains its spot in Henley’s list of countries with the worst passports

January 8, 2020 (MLN): Pakistan has once again made headlines for being on the list of countries with the worst passports, as reported by the Henley Passport Index.

The list, which was earlier published on Henley’s official website, showed Pakistan’s ranking at 104 i.e. three ranks above Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria.

What’s more unsettling is that Pakistan, which just by the way, was declared as the best travel destination of the current year by Forbes recently, was leveled with Somalia.

If this humiliation wasn’t enough, the Henley Passport Index went on to put Yemen, Libya, Nepal, and Palestine above Pakistan on the list. It may be worthwhile to note that in 2019, Pakistan was ranked 102 by the same index for having access to only 33 countries.

On the contrary, Japan retained its top spot for having access to around 191 countries, whereas Singapore grabbed the second spot for having access to 190 countries.

As much as we are saddened by Pakistan’s status in terms of passport quality, we are also aware of the factors that have put our country in this position. It is a well-known fact that numerous immigrants from Pakistan tend to overstay or even illegally settle in foreign countries without any authorization to do so.

This is certainly something that has been going on for a while, and needs to be addressed by the government if it wants Pakistan to at least not be in the list of countries with the worst passports.

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