CHITRAL, April 13: The National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) has issued nearly 42,351 computerized national identity cards (CNICs) in the district in 2003, Nadra assistant director Gul Agha said here on Monday. He told Dawn that Nadra was providing prompt service to applicants in the district to get the CNICs in time.

He said Nadra was also planning to computerize the record of the district registration office in order to provide one-window facility to the public. Mr Agha said Nadra maintained offices at Booni and Mastuj to enable the people from far-flung parts of the district to get the CNICs without any difficulty.

He said that a site had also been selected at Booni to establish a swift registration centre there. The office would provide maximum facilities to the people of the upper parts of Chitral. He said Nadra had also acquired the services of village representatives to issue the CNICs to the sparsely located population in the district.

Regarding the delivery of the cards to the applicants, Mr Agha said that instead of making the post offices do the job, Nadra had undertaken the responsibility to promptly deliver the CNICs as and when they were received from the head office.

He added that due to the presence of a large number of refugees in Chitral, it was very hard to ensure that the cards were not issued to the Afghans. About 60 suspected cases had been referred to the relevant authorities for verification, while many cases of forgery were being heard in the courts, he said.