Security czar sets six-month deadline for re-verification of CNICs

• Nisar says matter related to Pakistan’s sovereignty, security as well as prestige
• Gives two-month time to those possessing fake identity cards and passports to get them blocked voluntarily or face seven-year imprisonment
• Any public servant found involved in any wrongdoing will face incarceration of 14 years

After shocking revelation about fraudulent issuance of a national identity card to Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan on Friday ordered re-verification of all computerised national identity cards (CNICs) within a short span of six months, saying at this critical juncture it was a must to authenticate identities of nationals.

Speaking at a press conference, the country’s security czar said it was not just a matter of fake documents; it was a matter of Pakistan’s sovereignty, security as well as prestige.

He said that fraudulent issuance of a CNIC to Mullah Mansour under fake identity of Wali Muhammad had sent a message to the world that anyone could acquire Pakistani identity card.

Nisar set two-month deadline for those possessing fake identity cards and passports to get these documents blocked voluntarily or they would face jail term of up to seven years along with registration of criminal cases once the deadline was over.

He further said that officials of the National Database Regulatory Authority (NADRA) found involved in issuance of fake ID cards shall be incarcerated for 14 years.

Nisar said the country was passing through critical time and it was necessary to take urgent measures to confirm identities of all nationals. “Those who share information with the government pertaining to fake documentation would be offered cash prizes for which a helpline is also being launched,” he added.

The minister warned that any official of the NADRA or passport directorate involved in any wrongdoing would have to face the music as no one would be spared since it was a matter of national security and interest.

Heads of the families, Nisar said, would be sent a letter asking them to verify the credentials existing in the database, so as to expunge names of impostors from the family tree.

Lashing out at the NADRA, the minister said that the issuance of fake documents to such a large number of people showed incompetence and inaptness of the Authority.

Nisar expressed surprise that a passport for Wali Muhamamd Khan (Mullah Mansour), killed in a US drone strike in Balochistan, was issued in 2001, but no action was taken despite the fact that he had it renewed in 2011 after getting it in 2005.

Nisar said that some leaders had started questioning him about the issuance of fake documents to such people mindless of the fact that not a single fake identity card has been issued after he assumed the office as the federal interior minister.

The security czar told the media that he had sacked 16 director generals of the NADRA and brought down the total count to 10 after taking action against issuance of false documents.

He said the incumbent government was making all-out efforts to block identification documents belonging to suspicious individuals, adding that 25 million families would be targeted specifically during the re-verification process.

He said that ID cards and passports shall only be blocked after verification, adding that 29,000 passports were blacklisted during the past three years.

“I will personally monitor this exercise and nobody will be spared,” he said, adding that some officials told him that it was next to impossible to re-verify all CNICs and would cost a lot of money.

Nisar further said that the matter was related to Pakistan’s security and he would make it possible the way he did the verification of millions of subscriber identity modules (SIMs) of mobile phone-users. “It is my firm determination to block all fake CNICs and passports within a period of six months,” he asserted.

To a question regarding Balochistan minister’s statement about Afghan refugees, Nisar said the statement regarding kicking out Afghan refugees from the country was unsuitable.

The interior minister also appealed to the civil society, media and judiciary to support the government in its initiative so as to make the impossible possible.