PESHAWAR: Peshawar High Court has declared not maintainable pleas of around 130 holders of proof of registration (PoR) or Afghan Citizen Card (ACC), claiming to be Pakistani citizens, directing them to first approach National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) for issuance of citizenship clearance certificates to them.
A bench consisting of Justice Wiqar Ahmad and Justice Farah Jamshed disposed of 127 petitions, with giving multiple directions to Nadra for dealing with the cases of the petitioners and other holders of ACC or PoR card. The bench directed Nadra to decide cases of applicants, once they filed their respective applications, within a period of four months.
The petitioners had claimed to be Pakistani citizens by descent and that their entry in database of Nadra as holders of ACC or PoR card had been wrong to the extent of reflecting them as citizens of Afghanistan. The petitioners had requested the court to declare them Pakistani citizens.
“When an effective alternate mechanism already exists, issues involved in these constitutional petitions cannot be resolved without a process of factual determination, where process of verification can effectively be conducted under the policy furnished by Nadra, resort to constitutional jurisdiction of this court, and that too as a measure of first instance, is not at all justified,” the bench ruled in its 21-page detailed judgement.
Rules alternate remedy available with petitioners; directs Nadra to decide their cases within four months
“Petitioners have been approaching this court in instant as well as in the connected cases without first resorting to the mechanism provided by Nadra for issuance of clearance certificates and cancellation of ACC/PoR cards,” the bench observed. It added that as such, those writ petitions were found to be not maintainable in view of the availability of an effective alternate remedy.
“We therefore, dispose of all these writ petitions with the observation that petitioners, if so advised, may apply to Nadra authorities for issuance of clearance certificates,” the bench ruled.
“All such persons, who claim to be Pakistani citizens and whose ACC/PoR cards have been issued wrongly in their names, may also approach Nadra authorities for said purpose.”
The bench directed Nadra not to refuse service to such applicants and should deal with all relevant cases in accordance with the policy already framed for the purpose.
“All applicants approaching the designated Nadra registration centres shall be entertained and issued proper tokens without any exception. They shall be given specific dates for submission of requisite documents and on submission, proper acknowledgment shall be issued in writing,” the court directed.
The bench said when the documents were found complete; they should be referred to special verification boards (SVBs) through written intimation.
The bench directed Nadra to devise a mechanism whereby, on each appearance before SVB, proper acknowledgment was to be issued to the applicants showing their attendance before the board.
“The cases of all applicants, upon compliance of the timelines prescribed by Nadra, shall be processed and finally decided within a period of four months from the date of application/issuance of first token. In case any delay is caused on the part of applicant, same shall be duly recorded in the Nadra database and produced before this court, if such applicant subsequently approaches this court,” the bench further directed Nadra.
The bench maintained that during pendency of the verification process, writ petitions should not ordinarily be entertained, as same would be premature and not maintainable.
“Only after a reasonable period (four months from the date of first applications) has lapsed, petitioner demonstrates that all requisite documents have been submitted, proceedings before the board have been attended, and yet Nadra has failed to finalise the matter within four months, a petitioner may file writ petition and only then same may be entertained,” the bench ruled.
“In such cases, petitioner shall annex proof of submission of documents and attendance before the boards. In the absence of compliance with the aforesaid process, such writ petitions shall not be entertained by this court,” the judgement states.
Moreover, the bench also directed Nadra authorities to modify their SOPs in accordance with this judgement. The bench discussed in detail its earlier judgements, the relevant policy framed in the matter and relevant laws.
The petitioners were represented by several lawyers including Saifullah Muib Kakakhel, Hamza Jamshed, Malik Shehbaz, Faheem Marwat, Arif Jan, Amanullah Peerzada, Shan Asghar, Zeenab Yousafzai, Hamid Hussain, Abdur Rehman and Zul Qarnain, etc.
They claimed that the petitioners had not been entertained at Nadra registration centres due to which they had to approach the high court.
The additional attorney general, Sanaullah Khan, appeared for federal government, whereas Nadra director operation Shahid Ali Khan appeared along with law officers Abdur Rauf, Mohammad Mubarak and Shahid Imran Gigyani.
Shahid Khan denied the petitioners contention that Nadra registration centres had been denying services to them. He stated that the authority had so far received around 26,000 applications out of which 17,884 cases had been declined as the applicants therein couldn’t establish that they were Pakistani citizens.
He said that around 2,200 applicants, after verification of their status as Pakistani citizens, had been issued clearance certificates, whereas 6,637 applicants had not turned up to pursue the verification process due to which their cases remained pending.
He stated that the authority for issuance of clearance certificates under Section 19 of Pakistan Citizenship Act, 1951, had been devolved to the registrar general i.e chairman of Nadra. He added that Nadra had established proper institutional mechanism, for dealing with all such cases and a comprehensive policy had also been framed in that regard.
Published in Dawn, June 22nd, 2026