Nadra issued over 45,000 CNICs to foreigners in past 10 years

Fake CNICs blocked, action taken against corrupt officials

ISLAMABAD: El Shukrijumah, an American citizen, possessed a Pakistani National Identity Card for Overseas Pakistanis (NICOP No: 121015-9547114-7) under the name of Shahzaib Khan s/o Akbar Khan. He was operating Al-Qaeda’s external operations programme when military killed him during an encounter in Waziristan Agency in December 2014.

Shukrijumah is just one of over 45, 000 foreigners who were issued Pakistani computerised national identity cards (CNICs) since 2005.

The country’s top registration authority—the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra), allegedly issued these cards to nationals of China, United States, India, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Egypt, Uzbek, Maldives, Morocco, Bangladesh and Burma, putting national security at a greater risk, revealed official documents. 

Shocking revelations came at a time when the country’s top security czar Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan confirmed that Nadra blocked over 0.23 million suspicious national identity cards in past five years. Either these CNICs were issued to foreigners or Pakistanis.

More than 650 officials of Nadra allegedly issued these tens of thousands of CNICs to foreign nationals, majority of them were ‘unregistered Afghan refugees’ during this period, officials assigned to investigate this scam claimed. 

Nadra issued to Pakistani CNICs to 21 Chinese citizens, 29 Indians, 236 Iranians, one American, 111 Bengali and Burmese, seven Moroccan, three Uzbeks, two Maldivians, one Senegal citizen, 13 Egyptian and around 40, 000 Afghans got Pakistani cards, revealed official documents also exclusively obtained by Geo TV and The News.

After expending scope of investigation into this scam, top registration body’s officials claimed that they have blocked around 40, 000 CNICs issued to Afghan citizens since 2005. “Over 52, 000 CNICs issued to foreigners were on Nadra’s radar” across the country, particularly in Balochistan, officials revealed.

Some senior officers of Nadra were allegedly involved in this scam, official documents continued to reveal. Over 108 Nadra officials were involved in this scam in Regional Office Karachi. 

The list also included Assistant Director Nadir Khan, Intelligence Officer, Sardar Nabi, General Manager Brig (retd) Ihsan Haq and Area Manager Karachi Waqas Langha in this office, they added. Over 25 Nadra officials were involved in processing foreigners’ identity cards in Regional Headquarter in Sargodha.  Over 48 Nadra officials were issuing CNICs to foreigners in Lahore Regional Office of Nadra. Some senior officers were also involved in corrupt practices over there.

As many as 12 Nadra employees were involved in this scam in Nadra office Islamabad where four junior executives were dismissed from services.

Nadra investigation team is also probing over 75 corrupt officials who issued thousands of CNICs to foreign nationals in Peshawar Regional Headquarter of Nadra. Many senior officials namely Assistant Director Muhammad Aman and junior executives Abdul Hafeez, Abid Khan, Shakeel Ahmed, Naseerudin, Naveed Ahmed and Shahid Ali were removed from services on corruption charges. More than three Nadra officials were dismissed from services in Regional Multan office after they found guilty in issuing CNICs to foreigners. 

Over 102 Nadra officials were issuing CNICs to foreign nationals in Quetta Regional Office. Many officers namely Muhammad Nasir, Altaf Ghichki, Saeed Islam, Nisar Panezai and Qadeer Ahmed services were suspended after corruption inquiries started in this regional office. More than 30 Nadra officials were suspended after they were found guilty of issuing Pakistani cards to foreigners in NADRA Sukkur Regional Office. Despite repeated attempts, Spokesperson for Nadra could not be reached till midnight.