THE revelation is shocking. Hundreds of individuals holding Pakistani passports who were detained by the Saudi government were discovered during investigations to not be Pakistanis at all, but Afghans who had managed to fabricate their national identity and obtain travel documents from Pakistan. The Senate Standing Committee on Interior was told on Thursday that the Saudi authorities had flagged a total of 1,296 Afghan nationals who had acquired Pakistani passports through fraudulent means, ostensibly with the help of local collaborators exploiting weaknesses in the national identity registration system. Informed sources say there was a loophole in the family registration process, which Nadra recently closed, and which allowed new family members to be registered under a Pakistani national’s family tree based on fabricated, union council-issued birth certificates. This was exploited by foreigners to register themselves as members of Pakistani families and then use these altered records to acquire CNICs and passports on which they travelled abroad.

It is no wonder that Pakistanis have been facing immense difficulties securing visas to travel abroad. Issues like these are bound to make even the most ‘brotherly’ of nations view visitors from this country with deep suspicion, and one cannot really blame them. After all, if Saudi Arabia alone has been able to nab hundreds of Afghans who had successfully given Pakistani authorities the slip, there may be many more in other parts of the world. Such actions — be they taken by any foreign national on Pakistani soil — represent a major liability for this country. Any crimes they commit or trouble they cause besmirch Pakistan’s image and create difficulties for its citizens. The authorities must, therefore, take action against such individuals and their accomplices. Nationality records must be thoroughly reviewed to identify travellers suspected of having acquired Pakistani documentation through illegal means, and they should be asked to provide proof of their citizenship. It is also important to identify local collaborators and give them exemplary punishments. Foreign trust will not be restored unless there is transparent action.

Published in Dawn, April 26th, 2025