RAWALPINDI, March 15: The National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) on Tuesday moved Lahore High Court (LHC) for annulment of a criminal case registered against its officials by Civil Lines Police on March 8 for allegedly preparing fake passports for the employees of Baharia Town.

Justice Chaudhry Mohammad Tariq of the LHC's Rawalpindi bench directed Civil Lines SHO to produce the relevant record on March 28 about the FIR registered against Nadra officials.

Making SHO and Raja Niaz Ahmed Kiani, who lodged a complaint against the Nadra officials, as respondents, Saqib Jameel, Manager (legal) Nadra and Attiq Hussain the driver of the van seized by Civil Line police through their lawyer Syed Zulfiqar Abbas Naqvi maintained that police could not register forgery and cheating against Nadra officials as they were performing their duties.

“Under the Nadra Ordinance 2000 police cannot take legal action against the staff of the agency while they are busy in performing their duties. The staff with a data acquisition unit was present in Baharia Town in connection with official duties and were not preparing any fake identity cards,” said the petitioners.

The Nadra officials had alleged in the petition that their van was snatched by unknown men on March 8 evening from the area of Koral Police in Islamabad and was taken away to Civil Line Police where a fake FIR was got registered. They said Nadra also got a vehicle snatching case registered with Koral police and kidnapping of the seven employees including two female workers.

In the petition it has been apprended by the Nadra authorities that some terrorists might get access to the secret data of Nadra through the snatched mobile registration van and prayed to the court to set aside the FIR registered with Civil Lines police.

On the other hand the complainant had informed Rawalpindi police that the Nadra staff was busy in preparing national identity cards for the employees of Bahria Town on fake addresses to meet their unknown designs.

The complainant alleged that he observed and monitored that the Nadra staff started preparing fake IDs on February 21 and continued the exercise as the swift registration centers for people were present in different areas of the city.

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