I HAVE been running from pillar to post since December last year to get my spouse’s CNIC (No. 42101-1514405-8) renewed. Other than the routine formalities, I have been writing letters and sending e-mails to various relevant officials at the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra), but nothing has happened; nothing positive, I mean.

I say this because I did receive an email on Feb 21 this year from Nadra to the effect that my complaint had been ‘resolved’. The fact of the matter is that the matter has remained unresolved even six months later.

In March, I lodged a complaint with the Federal Ombudsman’s Karachi office (No. WMS-KHI/000/3074/2024). After four hearings, the Federal Ombudsman office in Islamabad issued a decision on May 31, directing Nadra to review the case, stating: “High courts in different cases have made this explicitly clear and have required Nadra not to overstep its bounds by questioning established citizenship status of every person born abroad who applies for CNIC renewal, to refuse renewal and to open a long-drawn, open-ended and non-transparent process with no SOPs”. Nothing has happened three months after the decision.

Nadra continues to refuse renewing the CNIC, asking us to submit citizenship certificate against which my spouse was issued the national identity card (NIC) and then the CNIC in the past. Truly, our lives have been on a complete hold.

Hasan Afzaal
Karachi

Published in Dawn, August 25th, 2024