THIS is with reference to your editorial ‘Fake identities’ (July 25). It has truly mentioned the corruption prevailing in Nadra and passport directorates. Despite the international standard and electronic technology used in making a CNIC, there are black sheep in Nadra who for some coins issue fake CNICs. Thus the fake identities mentioned may be used illegally to go abroad, to get residence, to get a job, etc.

Despite the money and technology that has been poured into modernising Nadra, its performance remains dismal. At Nadra offices at a district level there is no discipline for providing a hassle-free service. People standing in queues for hours fall into the trap of agents that have direct links inside Nadra. On payment of Rs1,000, excluding Nadra’s fees, people get their work done.

However, the Nadra Ordinance 2000 has some sections like Section 31 of the ordinance which states that no court shall take cognisance of any offence on the basis of a police report, unless a complaint is made by the gazetted Nadra. Such sections provide clear immunity to the offence from the police and courts.

In this regard, such sections must be amended in order to face the prevailing corruption within Nadra.

Nadra should take up arms against those corrupt elements once and for all in order to establish the reputation of Nadra throughout the country.

S. AHMED Hyderabad

Grievances THIS is apropos of the letters by Rana Sajid (July 11) and Hajira Aqil (July 21). I would like to share my experience so that the authorities concerned take some action to address the grievances of the general public visiting the Nadra office for getting passports or CNICs.

I have been trying to get my documents completed with Nadra authorities for almost one-and-a-half years. Unfortunately, something or the other keeps coming up to delay the process.

I got married two years ago and went to the Nadra office to have my wife’s name changed on the CNIC. Nadra authorities first rejected my ‘nikahnama’ as they claimed that it was not acceptable by them. They demanded a translation from the union council office.

When my daughter was born, I got the certificate from the hospital to get a birth certificate made from the union council.

I sent my wife to the Nadra office for my child’s B form since I was not in the country.

After visiting the Nadra office for many days my wife was able to submit the form. When I reached the Nadra office on the given date to collect my daughter’s B form, I was told that there is an objection which we had to remove.

The objection was that in the father’s CNIC his marital status was ‘single’. It was a big surprise for me since I had submitted all the documents, including the ‘nikahnama’, its verification from the union council and translation, while I renewed my wife’s CNIC, but I still had to change my card.

I started the procedure all over again for my CNIC and later when I visited the office after a month, I was surprised to know that there was another objection waiting for me.

I was told that I should also have the National Identity Card for Overseas Pakistanis (NICOP) renewed as well. Now I have submitted the NICOP renewal form following the same process which I did thrice earlier. Why don’t the authorities concerned raise all the objections at the same time?

If there were such requirements, then why did they not tell us when I was submitting my daughter’s B form?

SUMAIR KHAN Doha, Qatar

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