Some officials found involved in issuing CNICs to foreigners: Nadra chief tells Senate panel

The Chairman of National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) on Thursday told Senate Standing Committee on Interior and Narcotics Control that some officials of the authority were found involved in issuing of Computerised National Identity Cards (CNICs) to foreign nationals.
Usman Mobeen, the newly-appointed chairman of NADRA told the committee that NADRA officials were found involved in issuing CNICs to foreign nationals, especially Afghan nationals, following a question raised by Senator Talha Muhammad, chairman of the committee, as to how over 200 CNICs had been issued to Uzbekistan and Tajikistan nationals by NADRA in Lahore.
The NADRA chairman further said that NADRA has so far taken action against 272 officials who were found involved in misusing their authority and inquiries are still pending against many officials. "Centre in-charge of NADRA regional office could not make forgery of the issuance of duplicate CNICs to Pakistanis, but they can issue CNIC to foreign nationals," he said.
He said that to control issuance of CNICs to foreign nationals, NADRA has further improved internal intelligence system. "The internal intelligence of NADRA is investigating the extent of the network involved in issuing CNIC to foreign nationals," he said.
Usman further said that NADRA in the past had shown leniency to the officials involved in issuance of fake cards, but now the authority had adopted zero tolerance against officials involved in misuse of power. Senator Shahi Syed said that NADRA gave citizenship to foreign nationals due to which they not only became security risk but also a burden on the country.
The committee recommended that NADRA should strengthen its vigilance department to keep a close eye on the officials to control issuance of CNICs to foreign nationals. Senator Talha Mahmood also asked Ministry of Interior to take notice of the problems being faced by Pakistan due to immigration officials of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) while travelling to South Africa.
Shahid Hamid, member NADRA while briefing the committee about Safe City Project Islamabad said following the directives of Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali, two consultants had been hired to check the quality of the equipment purchased from a Chinese company. "The consultants would submit a detailed report about the quality of equipment to the Ministry of Interior," he said.
Muhammad Safdar, Director General (DG) Immigration and Passport I&P Directorate told the committee that the directorate now issues urgent passport within four days instead of five days while ordinary passport within 10 days instead of 12 days. The I&P Directorate has sent a summary to the Ministry of Interior for posting in foreign mission, he said.
The committee also asked the Ministry of Interior to submit a report about the validation of arms licenses and chalk out a policy to speed up arms licenses validation. The committee also asked NADRA chairman to inform the committee about the total time required for the printing of electoral rolls in Gilgit-Baltistan. Senator Syed Tahir Hussain Mashhadi, Begum Najma Hameed, Fazal Abbas Additional Secretary Ministry of Interior, Muhammad Anees DG (Operations) NADRA, Zulfiqar Ali DG (Technical) NADRA and DG Tahir Akram Cheema also attended the meeting.