Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The process of verification of national identity cards, which was recently initiated by the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA), has been postponed due to some technical reasons.

It has been learnt that thousands of foreigners have become part of Pakistani families in connivance with the NADRA staff. As a result, a large number of foreigners got jobs in different government departments and some anti-Pakistan elements got Pakistani nationality.

The process of verification of some 25 million families within two months has been delayed due to sluggishness of mobile service and unavailability of the NADRA record.

According to the sources, the NADRA introduced a helpline, 8008, on July 1 and received some 700,000 messages from people for verification of their family database. The NADRA positively responded to some 300,000 messages. The remaining 400,000 people were told that the mobile number from which the message was sent by the head of the family was not registered in the NADRA record.

Some corners have shown apprehensions that NADRA might block computerised national identity cards of people if their cell phone SIM cards are blocked due to any reason. In May 2015, the total number of verified SIM cards in Pakistan was 114 million. The figures given by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority showed that some 133 million cell phone SIM cards were active in the country, but the NADRA failed to adopt a policy in this regard.

Due to a lack of communication between the NADRA and the telecom companies and in the absence of a coordinated system, the Interior Ministry might fail to execute the national identity cards verification project.

NADRA spokesperson Muhammad Faiq told Daily Times that efforts were under way to sort out the issues.

It is pertinent to mention here that the slain Taliban commander Mullah Akhtar Mansour got Pakistani national identity card and passport issued in connivance with the NADRA officials. This fact came to the light when the Taliban commander was killed in a drone strike on May 22. After this incident, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan decided to verify the computerised national identity cards of all people.