The United Arab Emirates (UAE) government has stopped issuing visas to Pakistanis holding handwritten passports.Assistant Undersecretary at the Ministry of Interior for Naturalisation, Residency and Ports, Major General Nasser Al Awadi Al Menhali told Gulf News that the decision will affect Pakistanis who plan to travel to the UAE and Pakistani expatriates already in the country who plan to apply for a new visa. The decision has been made for security reasons to discourage manual passports as part of controlling fake passports. Meanwhile Emirates Airline of Dubai said in a statement that in line with the recent mandate from UAE Immigration, airlines are not permitted to check-in and board Pakistani nationals travelling to the UAE with a hand-written passport.