ISLAMABAD, Nov 3: The National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) has cancelled the registration cards issued previously to the Afghan refugees living in Azad Kashmir and started the process to issue them with new cards, sources in the authority told Dawn.

The sources said that the cards were cancelled after the AJK government objected to the mentioning of Azad Kashmir as a province of Pakistan in the cards issued to the Afghan displaced persons (DPs) previously.

They said Nadra had admitted to its mistake and cancelled all old cards.

The registration cards are being issued to the Afghan refugees living in Pakistan under the repatriation process launched by the government in collaboration with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

According to the data compiled by the authority, about 900 Afghan refugees were living in Azad Kashmir and over 300 of them had been issued with registration cards that now stood invalid. “We have cancelled the old registration cards and started the process to issue new ones,” a senior official of authority said.