KHAR: Residents of Bajaur tribal district whose Computerised National Identity Cards (CNICs) have been blocked since long staged a demonstration on Tuesday against unnecessary delay in the verification process and demanded of the relevant authorities to speed up the process.

Scores of people from different areas of the district participated in the protest held outside the Bajaur Press Club.

Speaking on the occasion, ANP local chapter president Attaullah Khan, PkMAP local chapter head Asghar Khan and others showed their concern over delay in the verification process of blocked CNICs.

They said that identity cards of hundreds of local residents had been blocked for the last several years for unknown reasons, which was causing problems for them while travelling out of the district.

They said that many people had lost their jobs in the country and abroad as they could not travel out of their areas without the CNIC.

They criticised the local administration for undue delay in verifying their CNICs. They claimed the government had also formed a committee to verify the blocked cards, but it failed to conduct its task due to lack of interest of the relevant officials.

Talking to mediapersons, Bajaur assistant commissioner Arif Khan Yousafzai claimed on Tuesday that verification process of blocked CNICs was underway. He said that the administration had asked the committee to speed up the verification process, adding that cards of several residents had been verified.

Published in Dawn, September 19th, 2018