Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan has said that action would be initiated against foreigners holding fake computerised national identity cards (CNICs) after August 31.
Addressing a group of reporters on Monday, the security czar warned those residing illegally in Pakistan and those holding fake CNICs to surrender their cards before the end of this month or face arrest and deportation. He also announced a reward of Rs 10,000 each for those identifying fake Pakistani citizens.
According to Nisar, more than 23,000 fake ID cards have been identified while 224,000 cards have been verified during the first month of the campaign launched to against those possessing fake CNICs.
During the first 15 days, 2. 6 million text messages were received by the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) for verification of family members while the Authority also sent 1.8 million SMS to people for this purpose, the minister said of the campaign.
Nisar said that one hundred thousand CNICs had been blocked since 2013 and over two thousand passports cancelled. He said one million SIMs (subscriber identity modules) were also verified with the cooperation of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority.
The Interior Ministry had, in the last week of May, launched a drive for re-verification of CNICs of all Pakistani citizens and warned fake ID card holders with punishment of up to seven years. The interior minister had said that 25 million families would be targeted in the exercise to make the verification process easier.