THIS is with reference to the editorial ‘Secure identities’ (Aug 25). The National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) attaches great importance to data protection and cyber security, and has become fully compliant with national telecom and security standards. As for the matter of ineligible persons, including foreigners, obtaining a CNIC, the decision rests on feeder documents establishing a person’s history as a Pakistani, such as the birth certificate or records of land inheritance. These documents originate outside Nadra, indicating the weakness of the wider registration ecosystem.

It was Nadra’s recommendations that led to the approval of the National Biometric Registration Policy Framework, which mapped loopholes right across the system. Besides, Nadra fixed the gaps within its own system in June 2025 through a major overhaul of the National Identity Card Rules 2002, taking major steps which together close the very doors through which fraudulent registration used to take place.

Furthermore, Nadra is fully aware of the issue of overcrowding at its centres. There is, indeed, a gap between what citizens expect and what they get. The launch of the Pak Identity application has produced meaningful results, with over 20 million downloads and more than 2.5 million active users just last year. Besides, the addition of more than 5,000 e-Sahulat franchises, service counters at over 500 Union Council (UC) offices, self-service kiosks at all the Nadra Mega Centres and doorstep services for the elderly and the disabled have also facilitated the people.

Nadra Spokesperson
Islamabad

Published in Dawn, August 29th, 2026