QUETTA, Dec 23: Workers of the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party on Saturday staged a demonstration in front of the provincial headquarters of the National Database and Registration Authority over non-issuance of computer-generated identity cards to Pakhtuns.

Leaders and activists of the party assembled in front of the Nadra offices. Holding placards and banners, they chanted slogans against the Nadra and the PML-MMA coalition government in Balochistan.

Addressing the party workers, PMAP parliamentary leader in the Balochistan Assembly Abdur Rahim Ziaratwal criticised the provincial director of the Nadra for blocking 100,000 forms filed by Pakhtuns for issuance of computer-generated identity cards.

He alleged that Nadra’s mobile teams in Quetta and the northern districts of the province were sitting in madressahs and issuing NICs to the local Taliban following recommendations by MMA ministers.

“The denial of computerised identity cards to Pakhtuns, especially PMAP supporters, is tantamount to pre-polls rigging,” he remarked. He warned that if the Nadra officials did not change its “anti-Pakhtun attitude” then his party would launch a protest movement after Eidul Azha.

MPA Sardar Azam Musakhel, Usman Kakar and Nasrullah Zeray also spoke on the occasion.