LARKANA: National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) Chairman Muhammed Tarique Malik said on Wednesday that the organisation had refused to issue computerised national identity cards (CNICs) to 1,427 Afghan nationals.

Talking to journalists after inaugurating a Nadra registration centre here, he said the Afghans were coming from borders and not landing by parachutes. He said they had been issued identity cards when the process was manual, but today the authority had biometric system and it had become quite difficult for the Afghans or foreigners to get a CNIC issued.

He said: “The system has changed and now we have information prior to issuing identity card to any Afghan. We can confirm that the Afghan has entered from Chaman, Torkham, Angoor Ada or other areas as Nadra has installed biometric devices at the border and database begins formatting as soon as one enters the country.”

Now due to the modern biometric system, Nadra could check their transition as well, he said. “People are our eyes and ears, therefore, they must check ground realities,” he added.

He said that a TikToker had uploaded a news on social media about six months ago regarding recovery of 390 national ID cards from Afghans. “We kept on searching and verifying it, but none of the Afghans was identified having Pakistani CNIC,” he said. He said that such news was more often floated when Nadra was very close to win international contracts.

He said that with the establishment of the new Nadra centre, they would be able to issue 300 to 500 CNICs per day. Due to the recent unprecedented rains and floods, some 58 Nadra centers had been affected in Sindh and of them, 57 were put in operation again, he said. The worst-affected center in flood was that of Pir Jo Goth which they were going to inaugurate on Wednesday, he said.

He disclosed that a campaign would be launched from January 2023 to reissue the CNICs missed during flood free of cost.

Published in Dawn, December 29th, 2022