The government reached the decision as it is not yet clear whether the member states of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the UN agency, will accept its request to accept non-machine readable passports to be issued after Thursday. [break]
The government filed its difference to ICAO members two weeks ago that it is introducing MRPs only from August 1. “We are stopping issuance of [non-machine readable] passports from Thursday for the time being,” said Durga Prasad Bhattarai, spokesperson at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “But we may issue passports to individuals on merit basis.”
Any traditional passports to be issued Thursday onward will be invalid for international travel as per the ICAO directive.
Officials, however, said that the ministry is making final preparations to distribute forms of MRPs even though such passports will be ready for issuance four months later.
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