Summary Interior Minister says re-verification of CNICs linked with country's security
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) - Interior Minister Chaudhary Nisar Ali Khan on Friday addressed a press conference at the headquarters of the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) and discussed upon a number of issues regarding the documentation of national identification that arose after the surfacing of the controversy related with the identity of Taliban leader Mullah Mansour surfaced after his death in a US drone strike in Balochistan, reported Dunya News.
Nisar stated that Pakistan s sovereignty was breached as a result of the American drone strike in Balochistan. He said that Wali Muhammad was given his National Identification Card (NIC) in 2001 but no action was taken against any officer of NADRA in this regards by any previous governments. He said that Wali Muhammad was given first passport in 2005 and he had it renewed in 2011.
He said that all the identification cards in the country shall be re-verified within the next 6 months, further adding that the current government is taking many steps to block identification documents belonging to suspicious individuals. He said that 25 million families shall be targeted specifically during the re-verification process. Interior Minister said that ID cards and passports shall only be blocked after verification. He stated that during the tenure of the current government, 29 thousand passports were blacklisted within 3 years.
Interior Minister said that a time period of 2 months is being given to nullify fake identification cards as all such individuals who possess such ID cards are supposed to return them in NADRA offices during the specified period otherwise action shall be taken, adding that anyone possessing a fake ID card shall be imprisoned for 7 years whereas any NADRA officer involved in the making of fake ID cards shall be incarcerated for 14 years.
Nisar said that a reward shall be given to anyone who provides information regarding foreigners who possess fake ID cards, adding that a helpline is also being launched in this regards. He stated that no action shall be taken against any individual who returns his or her fake NIC within next two months. Interior Minister said that he wants to get done with the entire cleaning process within the next 6 months.
He further stated that the statement regarding kicking out Afghan refugees from the country is unsuitable. Nisar said that the matter of re-verification of NICs is a matter of national security.
