The task before Nadra

Now that Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali has directed the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) to appoint the required number of people to make it an autonomous body, it will certainly appear that the organisation, which was created four years ago, has been running a handicap race, as it has been working without permanent staff.
Viewed in this perspective, his bidding to the Authority chief during a briefing at the Nadra headquarters on May 15, to expand its vehicle registration and tracking system to all the provinces in order to curb cases of car theft across the country, can be seen to be motivated less by populist expediency than the urge that Nadra fully serve the purpose for which it had been brought into being.
This should be all the more discernible from the emphasis the Prime Minister laid on timely issuance of CNICs to the common man, for which he asked the Nadra authorities to set up swift registration centres in each and every district.
It will also be noted that Nadra has launched a pilot project of childbirth registration in Sialkot district, which is to be extended to the entire province of Punjab.
Perhaps seeing a parochial approach in confining the project to the Punjab, the Prime Minister rightly directed that similar exercises be launched in the NWFP, Sindh and Balochistan.
Again, pointing out that good governance is vital for the country, as it provides the base for bringing about significant improvement in the lives of the people, Jamali said that his government is paying full attention to the solution of public problems on priority basis, particularly in the remote areas, which had remained neglected in the past.
This should also explain the undertone in his directive to gear up Nadra's efforts for provision of computerised national identity cards throughout the country, especially in the rural areas.
At the same time, there can be no disputing his assertion that projects like CNICs, Motor Registration, Border Control System, Vehicle Identification System, Child Registration Certificate, can greatly help combat social evils.
The same holds good about his observation that in current global security environment, provision of CNICs to the citizens and completion of authentic database have become all the more necessary.
As he rightly pointed out, this would certainly not only help officials in identifying illegal immigrants but would also reduce the crime rate while curbing the fake passports business, which has also brought disrepute to Pakistan.
The Prime Minister lamented that Pakistan has to face a humiliation because of those who obtained fake Pakistani identity cards and passports for illegal activities, rightly pointing out that illegal immigrants were posing serious threats to national security. Proper measures have to be taken to overcome the threat and to save the country from avoidable embarrassment.
The task before Nadra is, of course, colossal, not only in terms of national security and creation of conducive environment for balanced economic and social development.
Regrettably, however, it has concentrated too heavily upon issuance of CNIC, working on it apparently in a hectic manner.
As revealed by the Nadra chairman on the occasion, it has produced approximately 37,033,601 CNICs, at the rate of approximately 25,000 cards per day while it has a capacity for producing 100,000 CNICs per day.
Which will mean that either it is under-staffed or lacks the efficiency to meet the target. More to it, it has been pressuring the people, through various moves, including announcing cut-off dates, without itself picking up the required pace to accomplish the task.
It will be in the fitness of things for Nadra to pay special attention to the urgency of creating connectivity in its projects with the departments and agencies concerned, inside and outside the country, to help them benefit from its performance.