Nadra chairman steps down

ISLAMABAD: Chairman National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) Tariq Malik tendered his resignation on Tuesday after a meeting with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Nadra sources said. The prime minister accepted Malik’s resignation and directed the authorities concerned to notify his resignation.

Tariq Malik met Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif at the PM House and presented his resignation after he was not allowed to leave for abroad. After a long discussion, Tariq refused to carry on with his job in the present situation and tendered his resignation.

Sources claimed that a controversy developed between the two main parties — PMLN and PPP — on whether the chairman should stay in office.

Sources in the interior ministry claimed that the outgoing chairman was being investigated by the FIA for his alleged involvement in a scandal.

Malik earlier served as the Nadra chief in 2013. The PML-N government had removed him from the post but he was reinstated by the court. He later resigned, citing pressure and threats from the-then government.

Sources disclosed that Malik had been put on the no-fly list because of an investigation against him by the FIA.

It merits a mention that after the “revelation” of alleged corruption in a Nadra contract, the FIA has obtained the details of assets of the outgoing chairman and the Anti-Corruption Circle, Islamabad, was investigating.

The FIA summoned Malik on May 19 in investigations pertaining to the award of a “contract to a favoured international company at a high price”.