KARACHI, Feb 7: The National Aliens Registration Authority (NARA) and other agencies have detected more than 80 illegal immigrants who have been elected Nazims, Naib Nazims and councillors in the new local government system in Karachi.

One of them, a Bengali, elected Naib Nazim of a Union Council, is a proclaimed offender, declared by the Federal Investigation Agency, for staying in Pakistan illegally and his involvement in preparing forged documents.

NARA has begun verification of the documents submitted by these aliens to the Election Commission at the time of filing nomination papers. They include Bengalis, Burmese and Afghan refugees.

Investigation was under way, and if such persons failed to prove themselves citizens of Pakistan, recommendation would be made to the Election Commission for their disqualification and holding byelections on the vacant seats, disclosed Mazhar Shaikh, Acting Director-General NARA to PPI here on Thursday.

To a query, he said the Authority had reports that most of the Nazims, Naib Nazims and councillors as well as industrialists in Karachi helped illegal immigrants get National Identity Cards, domicile and other documents. Getting them NIC and other documents was easy as the elected representatives themselves attested the forms, he added.

Asked whether these people resisted the registration of aliens, Mr Shaikh said touts, influential industrialists and elected representatives were instrumental in resisting registration in an organized manner. However, he said, NARA had planned a crackdown on such elements with the help of government agencies.

The DG NARA said the Election Commission and the National Database & Registration Authority (NADRA) had also been informed through a letter of these elected aliens possessing fake NICs.

Since these elected aliens were creating hurdles in the way of registration of aliens, NADRA had been suggested to withdraw powers of attestation from them.

“The law recognizes only those Bengalis as citizens of Pakistan who have been residing in the country before the creation of Bangladesh. All other Bengalis are aliens, who have to get themselves registered,” he said.

Officials of NARA, the FIA and the Special Branch of the Sindh Police at a meeting held here the other day discussed the plan for crackdown on aliens.

The Special Branch has already started arresting Bengalis staying in the city illegally.

NARA started registration of aliens from Jan 1. So far 8,000 aliens had got themselves registered with the Authority voluntarily.

About 30-40 families or 200 aliens approached NARA daily for registration, Mr Shaikh said, adding that the Authority also planned to set up four camps in aliens’ areas in the city to facilitate them for registration.

FEES CUT: The federal government has reduced registration and work permit fees for illegal immigrants, said an announcement here on Thursday.