The Pakistan Cabinet is divided on the issue of having a column for religion in the passports.
The issue figured prominently at a meeting of the cabinet on Wednesday, with Religious Affairs Minister Ejaz-ul-Haq insisting that passports must specify the religion of the holder.
Information Minister Shaikh Rashid, on the contrary, said that 80,000 passports had already been issued without the column on religion and they would continue to be issued, press reports said.
Pakistan is among 172 countries that had signed the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) charter to have uniformity in MRPs (machine-readable passports) of all the countries.
At the cabinet meeting, Ejaz-ul-Haq said: "Pakistan is an Islamic Republic and we should allow a religious column in the passport, no matter what the opposition says about it."
Ejaz told the cabinet that it was the decision of the ruling party and parliamentary leader former Prime Minister Shujaat Hussain to include the religion column in the passport.
The Interior Ministry laid a report before the cabinet that opposed insertion of the religion column and Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao defended the stand.
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, who chaired the meeting, constituted a cabinet committee to study the issue.
The decision to form the committee was taken on the suggestion of Commerce Minister Hamayun Akhtar and Information Minister Shaikh Rashid, the reports said.
Rashid told journalists that the committee would be headed by senior minister Rao Sikander Iqbal.
"The Interior Ministry, the sources said, has taken the position that MRPs (Machine-Readable Passports) were designed and approved in line with a decision taken by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) to have uniformity in MRPs of all the countries," The News daily said.
"This decision has to be implemented in Pakistan as Islamabad is also among 172 countries that had signed the ICAO charter," it quoted the ministry as saying.
"Pakistan cannot reverse its decision on these things," the ministry added.