A few days ago I visited Nadra office located at Wah Cantt to get my wife’s renewed CNIC with the husband name instead of father’s name. As usual, there was a long queue, which I was already expecting.

I had my marriage certificate with me as I was told that it is a pre-requisite for this task. I asked the person sitting behind the counter to get us registered as a new family but I was shocked when he asked me to bring computerised marriage certificate on my next visit.

I asked him from where can I get that computerised ‘nikahnama’. He advised me to visit the cantonment board for the purpose.

However, when I entered the cantonment board’s office they told me that I have to deposit Rs570 as its fee and the process will take almost 10 days. I was in a bit hurry as I had to submit my wife’s CNIC somewhere.

But when I revisited the cantonment board after 10 days, I was surprised to see that the computerised nikahnama had only my and my wife’s names and CNIC numbers, along with our home addresses. There was no mention of marriage’s witnesses and conditions from the bride’s parents. To my surprise even dowry and the amount of ‘haq mehr’ was not mentioned on the computerised marriage certificate.

Here the question arises: why is Nadra forcing people to bring computerised marriage certificate? Is that a new way for collecting revenue?

Minting money from poor people through that means is an open challenge for policymakers of the country and people at the helm of affairs of Nadra.

Can anybody give me the justification for these two questions?

M. Arshad Nadeem Wah Cantt