The Pakistani Consulate in Dubai has suspended outpasses to illegal immigrants for four days while a contingency plan is being drawn up to deal with the heavy rush of people applying for these travel permits.

"Under a new contingency plan, an official from the Dubai Naturalisation and Residency Department will join the consulate on Saturday to help the staff speed up the issuing of the temporary travel documents," Consul-General Amanullah Larik said. The consulate will resume issuing outpasses on April 7.

Hundreds of illegal Pakistanis are thronging the consulate every day to get outpasses to leave the country after UAE officials began cracking down. The consulate, which normally issues only three to five outpasses a day, has been issuing up to 50 daily in the past few days.

"Hundreds of people are applying for outpasses, but we can't accommodate all of them in one day because we have to follow certain procedures to issue travel permits to illegal immigrants," a consulate official said.

Hard-pressed consulate staff finally sought help from Col. Saeed Matar bin Bleilah, Director of the Dubai Naturalisation and Residency Department. He appointed one immigration official to work with the consulate staff and speed the processing of outpasses.

Even if the consulate issues an outpass, the holder must get a no-objection certificate from local officials in order to leave. "A certificate is required to make sure that the illegal immigrant is not involved in any case, or wanted by the police," Larik said.

Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) is sending a staff member to the consulate to issue air tickets on the spot. Shahid Latif, PIA General Manager in Dubai, said, "We are even ready to operate bigger aircraft and additional flights to accommodate these passengers." All contingency measures will continue until the situation returns to normal.