NADRA has declared that on 31st December 2003, old National Identity Cards will stand cancelled throughout the country. It is in reply to this that a Pakistani lawyer Shaukat Ali has filed a writ petition before a Sindh High Court bench challenging the scheduled cancellation of old national identity cards.
A National Identity Card not only identifies a person but also proves that the holder of the card is a Pakistani citizen. Lawyer Shaukat Ali in his petition has argued that cancellation of old cards without their replacement by new ones would officially deprive the holder of his identity and nationality. At the same time, the action would derive thousands of people from using their right to vote in national, provincial, local and bye-elections in the country.
Cancellation of the old identity cards would also disentitle a large number of people from applying for jobs, seeking admissions, obtaining passports and opening bank accounts etc. Although Nadra delayed the issuance of Computerized National Identity Cards, popularly known as CNIC in short, and made people fill the forms not once or twice, but thrice, in some cases six times. And yet, the CNIC was not issue to the applicant. In some cases, Nadra either lost the applicant’s forms, that were later found in the KMC dustbin which were deposited by the applicant at Nadra’s office.
People on the other hand also demonstrated too much laziness and did not apply for the CNICs until it was made mandatory for getting a passport or travelling for pilgrimage. Despite Nadra’s efforts of issuing CNIC through mobile offices in rural areas, majority of the people in our country are still without a CNIC. The Sindh High Court division bench has issued notices for December 19, 2003 to the Federal Government and National Database and Registration Authority in connection with the petition of lawyer Shaukat Ali.
People are quite hopeful of getting extension in the date for issuance of CNIC by Nadra but officials at Nadra are reluctant. What I saw and heard at Nadra’s office, at Karachi’s Awami Markaz situated on Shahra-e-Faisal in Karachi, was rather brave
According to Adeel Abbas, Assistant Manager Nadra at Awami Markaz, since the inception of Nadra office in Awami Markaz, the office has processed more than 300,000 applications. At present the centre is entertaining 1400 applicants daily and operates from 9:00am to 2:00am. The Ministry of Interior has also cancelled their Sunday weekly holiday in order to facilitate as many applications as possible before 31st December 2003.
The urgent fee for obtaining a CNIC is Rs180 and the card is delivered at the applicant’s doorstep through a first class courier service within 12-15 days. Normal charges for CNIC is Rs75 and the card is delivered within 30-35 days from Awami Markaz office only. CRC (Child Registration Certificate) is issued within 7-10 on payment of Rs140. CNICs that carry information other than those provided by the applicant are rectified free of cost by Nadra which requires 25-30 days time.
After the announcement of deadline for obtaining CNIC by Nadra, the number of counters at Awami Markaz where data feeding of the applicant is being done has been raised from 12 to 16. Similarly, the number of delivery counters has also been raised to 22. Eighteen counters are meant for males and four are reserved for females that delivers approximately 5000 CNICs daily. Some CNICs that were deposited by the applicant for normal deliveries are also being sent by courier to facilitate the people.
Adeel Abbas complains that despite more that 26 Nadra swift centres operating in the city, majority of the people are coming to Awami Markaz for applying for their CNIC. He said our volunteers are out in the queue asking people where they have come from and guide them to go to the swift centres situated nearest to their place of residence so that rush at Awami Markaz can be minimized.
When I asked Adeel about the people who wish to obtain passport but their CNIC have not been issued to them by Nadra, he said that Nadra is issuing letters to all those applicants who have applied for CNIC and wishes to get their passport. The passport office is issuing passports on presentation of Nadra’s letter which carries applicant’s new CNIC number. When asked to elaborate on CRC (Child Registration Certificate) he said that parents normally mention their children’s details in the form but to get a separate passport, a CRC is demanded. Now-a-days, even some schools are demanding CRC from parents of the child at the times of admission in school.
Winding up his discussion, Adeel urged the applicants to avail the facilities of swift centres established in different parts of Karachi instead of rushing at Awami Markaz. He strongly advised people not to come to collect their CNIC without first making a phone call on 111-786-100 to check if their CNIC is ready for delivery.
NADRA has declared that on 31st December 2003, old National Identity Cards will stand cancelled throughout the country. It is in reply to this that a Pakistani lawyer Shaukat Ali has filed a writ petition before a Sindh High Court bench challenging the scheduled cancellation of old national identity cards.
