NADRA’S decision to issue CNICs to first-time applicants without requiring them to produce a birth certificate is a practical step. For years, the lack of a computerised birth certificate issued by local governments, especially in rural and underserved districts, has kept thousands of citizens, mostly women, from obtaining a national identity card. In many areas, births are never formally registered, or are recorded in informal ways that fail to meet CNIC requirements, resulting in citizens’ exclusion from the national database. While adult registration has reached an impressive 98.3pc, the remaining gap is not insignificant. In absolute terms, it translates into hundreds of thousands of people. More crucially, this gap is not spread evenly across the population. It is concentrated among women and in districts where weak administrative systems and poor access to public services make documentation difficult.

Without a CNIC, citizens are effectively locked out of economic and civic life. They cannot open bank accounts, access formal employment, receive social protection benefits, inherit property with ease or vote. For women, the absence of identification reinforces dependency and marginalisation. In a country striving to expand financial inclusion, promote women’s economic participation and digitise service delivery, leaving even a small fraction undocumented undermines reform goals. That said, this move — valid until the end of this year — should not be seen as an amnesty for weak or irregular documentation. While Nadra is relaxing the birth certificate requirement for first-time applicants, it has built in safeguards. Registration will only proceed after verification through its existing records and mandatory biometric confirmation of already registered immediate family members. The condition that parentage, date of birth and place of birth once recorded will be irrevocable further underpins the seriousness of the effort and aims to prevent later manipulation of identity data. By lowering procedural hurdles, Nadra has moved closer to full inclusion of citizens in the national database.

Published in Dawn, February 24th, 2026