PM asks parties to identify voters without CNICs

National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) Chairman Tariq Malik on Saturday met Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf at the PM’s House, and briefed him about the progress made so far in issuing Computerized National Identity Cards (CNICs) to the citizens. Malik told the premier that 452 National Registration Centers, 252 Mobile Registration Vans and 70 Semi-Mobile Units were registering adults in remote and far flung areas across the country. He said that special arrangements were in place for registration of women. He said that NADRA had dedicated every Friday of the week for the registration of adult women. He said that 11 NADRA centers with female staff were facilitating women in acquiring CNICs. Malik further said that the authority had so far registered 99.5 percent voters in Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 99 percent in Punjab, 89 percent in Gilgit-Baltistan, while 88 percent in Sindh and FATA. In Balochistan only 76 percent population has been registered so far, he added. The prime minister appealed to all political parties to help NADRA identify unregistered adult voters, who do not have CNICs. He said that the political parties should cooperate with the government as the CNIC was a mandatory requirement for casting vote in the next elections.