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Ordeal of a Pakistani on foreign soil with his green passport

this comment was not needed mate. as i am brown i too have been targeted twice.

The article states that the problem occurred specifically because of the passport. I have been to Singapore myself and have never had any problems with my Indian passport. I wasn't asked to show a stupid amount like that.

Is there really a rule which says that Pakistani travellers need to show that they are carrying $ 10000 when they travel to Singapore or is it a blanket rule which isn't applied as strictly when it comes to other nationalities?
 
He should have brushed up on his immigration rules before traveling anywhere

Read the comments at the bottom. Express tribune will basically take any anti-Pakistan blog and post it without going over it.

Most people disagree with him.

Here's some comments that I agree with:

Most disappointing! You wish you weren’t a Pakistani, because of a vacation gone wrong?! Preposterous. I have travelled the world over, and countries where my green passport is not given respect, I choose not to go to! I would never never never, choose to discredit my country because some place seems to dislike the colour of my passport. Unfortunately, it seems that the patriotism we were born with is sadly lacking in those younger than us. I feel distraught that Pakistan has this in store for its future! My God – apply for another passport and leave – if you dislike the one you currently have! But to let some godforsaken far eastern officials make you ashamed of being a Pakistani – disgusting!!

Dear the problem is with you not with PAKISTANI passport learn how to handle immigration matters once i was travelling karachi to dubai and dubai to nairobi in dubai they asked put your shoes off i replied i will not if u want put my shoes off with urself am not gonna do that and they have done themselves be brave anywhere when u r not carrying any kind of drugs that’s it long live PAKISTAN LOVE U PAKISTAN

This is more of a personal experience please don’t Blame your passport for this. You should have studied the rules and regulations before traveling anywhere and to the person whos saying Saudi Passport doesn’t need a visa this is totally rubbish. They do need visa for European and western countries. They even need visa to enter Pakistan which cost them around 200 Dollars.
 
I've been ''randomly'' picked out in an airport security queue in Detroit too, but based on looks not passport.

Interestingly I went to Singapore visa centre in Dubai y'day and there's a sign there that said Visa processing time - Indian Passport - 2 days, Pakistani Passport 7 days.
 
I dont know about USA but I have travelled to Europe, Africa and Asia less (Singapore or Thailand) with Pakistani Passport. I can say with ease that I never had received any such treatment as elaborately described by the op. If one bad experience can make one ashamed of his nationality, I doubt how much pride one has in his nationality to start with.
 
My parents still have a Pakistani passport and they've never had any bad experiences like this.

The most they'll do is check my father again at security and be annoying about it, but they do that with any Middle Eastern/South Asian male-not only Pakistanis.
 
The few times I have suffered similar situation on airports I have said in a loud voice "Pakistani and proud of it"...that puts them off big time ;)
 
this is what happens when you dont buy your tickets from local travel agent also the singapore accident is authors fault she should have found out the formalities prior to her travel .. thai women saved her a$$ , however its still a bit*ch to travel with green passport esp a fresh one
 
this is what happens when you dont buy your tickets from local travel agent also the singapore accident is authors fault she should have found out the formalities prior to her travel .. thai women saved her a$$ , however its still a bit*ch to travel with green passport esp a fresh one

Yeah but even if you have an American passport but a Muslim name on it, they'll still give you a tough time for it.
 
now i know why Pakistanis pretend to be Indians in foreign countries,they know if they say they are pakistani no one will give them job and get suspicious about them.

yeah right.....after travelling to 42 countries of the world...multiple times in most countries and clocked hundreds of thousands of air miles..i have yet to come across a Pakistani who pretends to be indian..
You better wake up.
 
now i know why Pakistanis pretend to be Indians in foreign countries,they know if they say they are pakistani no one will give them job and get suspicious about them.

I have not seen any Pakistani saying they are indians ..well have you ever taken any employment in any western country ? you need to proof that you are eligible to work and that mean you will give you passport copy to your new employer ...

Please first learn things and then comment....
 
OP how old are you in? Age may have played a factor.

now i know why Pakistanis pretend to be Indians in foreign countries,they know if they say they are pakistani no one will give them job and get suspicious about them.

Pakistanis are now going to tanning salons and then applying for jobs? :undecided:
 
Letters from abroad: Shame on you, you are Pakistani
April 2, 2012

10930-passportx-1333344544-993-640x480.jpg

I just wish I was not Pakistani. I’m not being unpatriotic. It is the most sincere feeling I’ve had in a while.


Suvarnabhumi Aiport, Check-in Counter 1, Row W: I’m at the check-in counter of a low-cost budget airline with an indemnity form staring at me – as if mocking me, telling me you had this coming.

There are four women and three men, all discussing in detail, what I believe are my passport details, in indiscriminate Thai language.


At one hand, I see wrinkles on the foreheads of my flight’s cabin crew and immigration personnel, and on the other hand, the sheer architectural beauty of the Bangkok airport refuses to wear down my excitement. The schism and ambivalence is uncanny.

After nine splendid days of uninterrupted exotic days of merriment, my passport has caught up with me.


I am enroute Singapore from Bangkok.

Gleefully, as most tourists would, I approach the check-in counter. I am the first one in line. Yes, I am excited. I would meet my college best friend after more than two years for the first time since she moved out of Pakistan after graduation.

As I near the counter, a local airline operator greets me with even a bigger smile. Even in times of peril, the hospitality of the Thai people cannot be missed – they are absolutely delightful.

When I present my passport, I feel there is a problem. Within minutes there are more airline personnel around me. Some are making calls, others checking my flight details. The supervisor seems confused. Her expression worries me.

‘Is there a problem with my passport?’ I ask earnestly – clueless as to what had happened.

‘Please come with me, sir,’ the supervisor requests with utmost politeness.


They ask me how much cash I am carrying.

‘Four hundred US dollars,’ I reveal.

Inquiries came my way. Why are you in Bangkok? Why are you going to Singapore? How long for? Where will you stay? Do you have a double entry visa for the Kingdom of Thailand?

My head starts hurting. I see no reason for this sort of treatment.

After an hour of waiting, with all those behind me in line – possibly buying expensive liquor from the duty free – about to board the plane, the supervisor comes to me and says in a thick Thai accent:

‘If you [want to] travel to Singapore, you must fill [this] form, sir.’

What? What form? Are you kidding me? What did I do?

Before I could make words out of my thoughts, the more perceptive of the crew members says:

‘Indemnity form. From now on, you take full responsibility [of your luggage and yourself]. You don’t hold *** airline responsible if Singapore immigration send you back!’

‘Huh?’

‘We [are] not responsible for you anymore, sir. Okay to board?’


My confusion has reached incomprehensible levels. Apparently, with low-cost airlines, immigration is very strict. Especially if you are Pakistani. You must have 10,000 Singapore dollars in cash to show at immigration – a fact no travel agency in Pakistan is willing to vouch for – a fact I will learn later.

If I do decide to travel, the airline supervisor says, immigration in Bangkok will let me through, but 90% chances are that if I do not meet even one of the basic entry requirements, they will send me back to Bangkok. Once I’m back they will not let me enter Bangkok city, and I will be required to go to my home country immediately because I will have an entry rejected in one of the countries of my transit travel.

Being caught up in the adrenaline pump, I would’ve taken a shot. The problem is my ticket to Karachi is four days later. And my airline says if you are ‘escorted’ back from Singapore, we will be unable to change your ticket to Karachi and you will have to spend four days in a ‘detainee centre’ (euphemism for a prison facility, I assume).

Sign the indemnity form – which says you have been made aware of all possible options and agree to take full responsibility from hereafter – and you can board the plane. Goodluck!

I love my friends and I really want to go ahead with my vacation as planned. But I’m not stupid. I am aware and conscious of my limitations when it comes to international travel. I ask my supervisor, who seems like a warm lady, genuinely concerned for me, what I should do?

Without thinking much she says:

‘Don’t go, you don’t have sufficient amount to travel. You [might] get into a lo’a trouble, sir.’

Turns out my $500 ticket is non-refundable.

Trying to be the man my dad would want me to be, I try hard to hide my tears as I walk away from the counter. I feel violated. I feel I had done nothing wrong.

The supervisor sees me and walks towards me. She says yesterday, a Pakistani passport holder was deported back from Singapore to Bangkok just because he didn’t have the exorbitantly high amount of cash on him during travel.

‘They never ask anyone to show the money. But you [are] the only Pakistani passport in the entire flight. They [will] catch you[‘re] passport and give you trouble very easy.

‘It’s your passport naa..’


Her words make my heart sink deeper.

I just wish for a moment I was not Pakistani. I’m not being unpatriotic. It is the most sincere feeling I’ve had in a while.

***

Club X, Silom Road, Soi 2: I decide I won’t let this ruin my three nights in Bangkok, and what lifts you up more than some drinks in a good club?

I take a cab, change (hip-hop style) and hit a club. At the entrance the bouncer asks me for an ID. I show him my Pakistani NIC card, which has my date of birth printed in English.

He looks and at me and says in a nonchalant manner:

‘Where you from, friend?’

‘Pakistan!’, I say in a pumped up voice, my head moving with the beat of the song – the airport debacle long forgotten in the waves of music’s rhythm.

‘Palestine?’, he screams back.

‘No no, Pakistan!’


‘Oh! Hahah! You carry no bomb right?’ he says, pulling my leg – with the six people behind me in the line laughing.


I let out an embarrassed smile.

‘Don’t blow up my club!’, he screams behind me, as I walk into the club, needing more drinks than I had expected.

**

Aboard flight TG0 507: ‘Please fasten your seat belts.’

I am finally going back home.

Not very excited though. My experiences have given me some bitter memories. And I continue to wonder why?

Lost in my thoughts, from the corner of my eye I see an airhostess and two Pakistani young men engaging, in what seems like an unpleasant exchange of words.

‘Sir please switch your phone off. Please fasten your seatbelt.’


The two men laugh, refusing to obey flight instructions.

Two more members of the cabin crew arrive at the scene and have to physically switch off their cell phones. The crew members look annoyed – and let me add, I have seen many things but a rude or annoyed Thai.

They look at each other bitterly and in a hush-hush way mumble: ‘Pakistani!’


Things start to make sense to me. We are treated in a particular manner because we beget it.

Right then I get one of the saddest realisations of my life: Home is near, but it doesn’t seem right.

Source: Express Tribune


Having Pakistani passport is really bad....we shouldn't carry Pakistani passport to travel to the world otherwise you are in trouble.
 
Ok wtf these Express Tribune $hit is a arm of New York Times which just cannot stop posting propoganda and anti-pak articles I propose a ban to ban this Express Tribune from this site. I have traveled I have never had to face what the author is telling me so I mean wtf

And plus you raptor are scaring me you have no respect whatsoever for your country i have noticed
 
^^^ I may be wrong but Raptor is canadian born and doesnt have much sense of belonging towards Pakistan.
 
These are the same guys that will - once Pakistan begins prospering again - will put their Pakistani flags back on. They're just a bunch of hypocrites, always trying to be on the winning team, with no loyalty whatsoever.
 

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