KARACHI, Jan 29: The Sindh High Court stayed on Thursday the cancellation of the old, non-computerized national identity cards, scheduled for Jan 31 by the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra), till Feb 12.
Nadra submitted its comments on the writ petition challenging its power to cancel the old cards through Deputy Attorney-General Syed Zaki Mohammad, who described them as insufficient to deal with the questions of law mooted by the petitioner. The law officer said the comments did not adequately explain under what authority of law Nadra was scrapping the old cards.
The division bench seized of the petition, which consisted of Justices Anwar Zaheer Jamali and S. Ali Aslam Jafri, gave the respondent federation and Nadra another opportunity to meet the objections raised by the petition on Feb 12 and stayed the impugned cancellation in the meanwhile.
According to petitioner-lawyer Shaukat Ali Shaikh, Nadra has no authority under the National Registration Act of 1973 or the Nadra Ordinance of 2000 to cancel the identity cards issued by the government of Pakistan under the former law. Its primary function was to develop a national database, yet it was unaware of the billions of people who had not received the new, computerized cards.
The national identity cards, he said, not only identified the person but also the nationality of the holder. The cancellation of old cards without their replacement by new ones would disenfranchise a large number of voters in the national, provincial and local elections and byelections, which was equally repugnant to the constitution. It might also disentitle a sizable number from applying for jobs, seeking admissions, obtaining passports or opening a bank account.
The lawyer blamed Nadra for lack of progress in issuing the new cards. Referring to the number of people subsisting below the poverty line, he said the new cards should be supplied to them free and on payment of nominal fee to those who could afford. Mobile teams should be sent to every household to issue new cards promptly.
NADRA'S REPLY: Nadra said in its comments on Thursday that all- out efforts had been made by it to ensure that every eligible card holder was provided with a computerized card. After establishing swift centres, it had gone to the extent of operating mobile units to supply the new cards before the deadline. In view of the inconvenience and hardship faced by the citizens, it extended the deadline from December 31, 2003, to January 31, 2004.
A line, Nadra submitted, had to be drawn somewhere to computerize and modernize the registration of nationals and preparation of a computerized database. Its mobile units had gone to individual commercial and industrial concerns to issue the new cards to their employees.
Nadra asserted that it had the authority to cancel the old cards and the ordinance of 2000 which constituted it was very clear on the matter. Its staff was fully aware of the problems faced by the public and was trying to solve them.
