The National Database Registration Authority (NADRA) has embarked upon a crash programme to reach out to the citizens for CNICs on war footings.
According to the spokesperson for NADRA, Pakistan has emerged as one of the few countries in the world where 96 percent of the adult population has been registered through the most secure biometric technology introduced by NADRA.
The spokesperson claimed that the registration level in Azad Jammu and Kashmir and KP had been observed as 99.9 percent, followed by Punjab 99 percent, Gilgit-Baltistan 89 per cent, Sindh and FATA 88 percent and Balochistan 76 percent against the projected population.
“Our focus is now Sindh and Balochistan and we are moving ahead in FATA despite severe law and order situation,” the spokesperson said, adding that the task would be achieved within this calendar year.
On the chairman’s directives, the authority has embarked upon a crash programme to reach out to the citizens of Pakistan for CNICs on war footings. It is making all-out efforts to get the adult population in Pakistan, especially women, registered in a minimum possible time to facilitate them in securing voting rights, education, health, employment and other facilities. Out of total 92 million CNIC holders, females are 40 million in number while 52 million are male CNIC holders.
The NADRA has so far registered over 86 percent of women in the country which was quite significant in the enhancement of female voters’ list. Four years ago less than 50 percent of women folk were registered. The total number of women included in the National Database is 39.77 million. Out of these, 5.29 million are in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 594,514 in FATA, 22 million in Punjab, 8.6 million in Sindh, 1.45 million in Balochistan, 356,151 in Islamabad Capital Territory, 270,132 in Giglit-Baltistan and 1.12 million in Azad Kashmir.
The NADRA is making all-out efforts to extend its data acquisition units (DAUs) to the doorsteps of citizens and performing registration operations through mobile units. It has 452 national registration centres, 252 mobile registration vans and 70 semi-mobile units in the countrywide to register adults in the far-flung areas.
To encourage womenfolk, Friday has been reserved only for women at all NADRA centres throughout the country, 11 NADRA centres with only female staff are facilitating women in getting (CNICs). The NADRA has increased its infrastructure by 83% by adding more statistical offices, mobile registration vans and semi-mobile registration units.
The NADRA is also reaching out to NGOs to help facilitate women in obtaining CNICs and achieve 100 percent registration of womenfolk across the country.
She also highlighted the role of NGOs in raising public awareness and said a UN women body is supporting NADRA by providing technical advice about gender equality and empowerment of women. In addition, Aurat Foundation is helping the authority in running public awareness programmes, especially in far-flung areas to encourage women who have not goy themselves registered with the NADRA.
In addition to extensive operational endeavors, NADRA Chairman Tariq Malik has also written a letter to all political parties, saying that their outreach and presence across the country provides an opportunity to NADRA to access unregistered population.
The NADRA has agreed to extend its data acquisition units (DAUs) to the doorsteps of citizens and is ready to perform registration operations through its numerous mobile units. The NADRA chairman in his letter has also urged the political parties to identify the citizens, especially unregistered women.
