The revelations about thousands of Afghan nationals acquiring Pakistani passports through fraud are a damning indictment of our crumbling institutions. At a Senate committee meeting, it was disclosed that no fewer than 12,000 Afghan nationals travelled to Saudi Arabia using fake Pakistani documents. Previous efforts to cancel fraudulent CNICs, as announced in 2021, have clearly failed to plug the gaps. Yet, in the face of such glaring evidence, officials continue to assert (with misplaced confidence) that travelling abroad on a fake passport is “impossible.” This brazen compromise of our national database exposes deep rot within NADRA, the body entrusted with safeguarding our identities. Credible reports suggest the involvement of NADRA insiders, who, for a price, allowed foreigners to embed themselves into Pakistan’s family trees through forged birth records. It is a betrayal not just of the state but of every citizen who relies on the sanctity of that small, green passport. Other countries’ scepticism towards Pakistani travellers, from the UAE to Qatar, begins to make much more sense. When the system is this vulnerable, trust erodes quickly and is infinitely harder to rebuild. Some would argue that desperation pushed these Afghan nationals towards deceit. That may be true. Yet it is Pakistan’s responsibility–not just as a sovereign nation but as a stakeholder in regional stability–to uphold the integrity of its institutions. Compassion for refugees must not come at the cost of national security. The rot cannot be cleaned with a few token arrests or departmental inquiries. A sweeping, top-down overhaul of NADRA is urgently needed. Beyond that, Islamabad must chart a clear and humane migration policy, distinguishing genuine refugees fleeing conflict from those seeking economic opportunity through fraudulent means. International partners have long dragged their feet in assisting Pakistan with the Afghan refugee crisis. That is unlikely to change. What we can change is our internal discipline: rooting out corruption, restoring faith in our systems, and protecting our citizens from the consequences of this administrative collapse. *