PESHAWAR: A resident of Mohmand tribal district has moved the Peshawar High Court seeking orders for the cancellation of the country’s computerised national identity cards and domicile certificates allegedly obtained by scores of Afghan nationals living in his region.

In the petition, Hazrat Khan Mohmand said some of those Afghan nationals had also been attesting documents, including those of domicile certificates, by posing as maliks in an illegal manner as the maliks weren’t allowed to do so after the merger of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

He requested the court to direct the relevant government officials to stop those Afghans from attesting CNICs, domicile forms and other documents.

Respondents in the petition are the federal government through interior secretary, the National Database and Registration Authority through its director general, Nadra regional directorate, deputy commissioner of Mohmand tribal district, commissioner (Afghan Refugees) Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, assistant commissioners of Baizai and Upper Mohmand areas, and several residents, who the petitioner claim, are Afghan nationals having Pakistani CNICs.

Mohmand resident seeks cancellation of those cards in his district

The petitioner, whose lawyer in the case is Mohammad Isa Khan Khalil, said that elders of Mohmand tribe had held several news conferences demanding the cancellation of CNICs of those Afghans, who had both Afghan and Pakistani identification documents.

He said that on his written complaint, the deputy commissioner had written a letter to Nadra DG for constituting a committee to look into the matter.

The petitioner said that several leaders from Essakhel tribe in Jaroobi area had signed an affidavit declaring that one of the respondents and his family members belonged to Kunar province of Afghanistan and were not Pakistanis at all.

He claimed that a representative jirga of Essakhel tribe had unanimously passed a resolution asking the federal and provincial governments and relevant officials to cancel the CNICs of Afghan nationals living in the district.

The petitioner pointed out that on the written complaint of the local elders, the deputy commissioner of Mohmand district had constituted a joint investigation team on the matter on June 9, 2020, asking it to complete the inquiry within two months but the task had so far not been completed.

He claimed that several of those Afghan nationals didn’t possess CNICs before 2012.

The petitioner said that not only had those Afghans fraudulently obtained Pakistani CNICs and domicile certificates but they had also been posing themselves as maliks and had been attesting documents of others in an unauthorised manner.

He contended that the conduct of those foreigners violated the law, especially the Pakistan Citizenship Act, 1951, and it was rather tantamount to usurping the rights of Mohmand tribe.

The petitioner said the officials involved in the issuance of CNICs and domicile certificates had also committed an offence falling in the purview of the Pakistan Penal Code.

He said there was no reason as to why the JIT had been delaying the inquiry into the ‘very sensitive issue’.

The petitioner requested the court to direct the relevant officials to ensure the early completion of the JIT report.

He also sought the court’s orders declaring the ‘indifference’ of the relevant officials towards the issue illegal.

Published in Dawn, December 30th, 2020