PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court on Tuesday disposed of a petition of 23 people, who sought Pakistan’s computerised national identity cards (CNICs) claiming to be the citizens of the country.

A bench consisting of Justice Ijaz Anwar and Justice Syed M Attique Shah observed that as the petitioners were not permanent residents of the province, they should approach the relevant high courts on the matter.

The petition was jointly filed by Zahir Khan, his brother and two sisters along with their children insisting that they were children of Pakistani national Nabi Khan Pathan.

However, the federal government rejected their claim declaring them Afghan refugees with Afghan Citizens Cards (ACCs).

PHC declares since petitioners aren’t residents of province, they should move relevant high courts

The lawyer for petitioners contended that the predecessors of his clients were Pakistanis, who had been living in the country since time immemorial and had Pakistani national identity card and other documents dating back to 1975.

He added that the interior minister issued a notification on April 19, 2017, declaring that only anyone with required documents would be considered a citizen of Pakistan.

“Those documents include registered land record from the year before 1978, pedigree (shajara-i-nasab) issued and verified by the revenue department, government employment certificate issued before 1990, verified educational certificate issued before 1978, passport issued to applicant before 1978, or any other document issued by the government prior to 1978 and verified by the issuing authority including arms license, driving licence or manual NIC prior to 1978,” he said.

The counsel argued that the petitioners held “manual” national identity cards issued in 1975 but authorities were reluctant to renew them by the virtue of the 2017 notification.

Additional attorney general Sanaullah Khan appeared for the federal government, whereas the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) was represented by lawyers Mubarak Jan and Imran Gigyani.

The AAG argued that the petitioners had ACCs proving that they were Afghan nationals and not Pakistanis.

He said that the federal government had carried out registration of Afghan refugees living in the country thrice, first 1979 and later in 1997 and 2001, due to the security situation in Afghanistan.

Mr Sanaullah said that when the Nadra began issuing CNICs, then a period of two years was granted to all “manual” NIC holders to replace their cards with CNICs.

He wondered if the petitioners were Pakistani nationals, then why they didn’t apply for CNICs at that time and had approached the court for the same after a delay of many years.

The AAG contended that the 2017 notification was applicable to those, who didn’t have ACCs.

He pointed out that the petitioners had also requested the court to cancel ACCs issued in their name.

Mr Sanaullah added that the high court didn’t have the authority to cancel ACCs.

He added that the petitioners had changed several of their residential addresses and had given addresses of Quetta, Islamabad, Multan and other cities.

The AAG said that if the petitioners were issued Pakistani CNICs in the current circumstances, the move would open a new Pandora’s Box prompting hundreds of Afghan refugees to approach the court to get orders for the same.

Published in Dawn, November 1st, 2023