FIA investigating thousands of Afghan refugees holding Pakistani CNICs

PESHAWAR: As the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) is carrying out investigation into the issuance of computerised national identity cards (CNICs) to thousands of foreigners by the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra), the National Geographic TV channel’s famous ‘Afghan Girl’ Sharbat Gula too is reported to have got a Pakistani CNIC, a source told The News.
Sharbat Gula is believed to be among tens of thousands of Afghans who have been issued Pakistani CNICs by Nadra as Sharbat Bibi of Nauthia Qadeem locality in Peshawar.The officials of the authority have recently blocked CNICs of thousands of people, including genuine residents of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Fata, on the pretext of verification to cover up the issuance of CNICs to Afghan refugees.
Some media reports said around 70,000 CNICs issued to Afghan nationals in the past have been blocked by the Nadra in recent months.The FIA officials, who have been investigating the issuance of the CNICs to Afghan refugees, are verifying the identity of Sharbat Bibi to find out if she was the Afghan Sharbat Gula or a Pakistani woman.
“We have been receiving hundreds of complaints that Afghan refugees are issued CNICs by the Nadra. The case of Sharbat Gula or Sharbat Bibi might be one of those cases but we don’t have any specific information about it,” an inspector of the FIA told The News on Tuesday.
Another official said they have grilled some officials who were handed over to the FIA by the Nadra authorities for committing irregularities in the issuance of the CNICs.“We questioned three employees of Nadra after being handed over to the FIA by their bosses a few months back,” Deputy Director FIA Imran Shahid told The News.
According to a source, the FIA and Nadra officials are investigating the case of Sharbat Bibi, who is mentioned as permanent resident of Nauthia Qadeem locality near Peshawar Saddar in the documents submitted to Nadra for obtaining CNIC in 2014. Her two sons, Wali and Rauf, also have Pakistani CNICs.
The authorities are verifying to find if Sharbat Bibi and Sharbat Gula are the same woman as the latter was said to be mother of three daughters while the former has two sons.There is a slight difference in age too as the former is said to be 46-year old while Sharbat Gula is believed to be 43.
The name of the spouse in both the cases is Rahmat Gul while both the women are having the same eyes that dominate the face.
Sharbat Gula was mentioned as the ‘Afghan Girl’ and the ‘Mona Lisa’ of the Afghan war, by the National Geographic Magazine and other top journals of the world in the last few decades.
Sharbat Gula’s piercing green eyes were dominant in her picture taken by National Geographic photographer Steve McCurry in the Nasir Bagh refugee camp in 1984.
The picture appeared on the cover of the magazine’s June 1985 issue.Her portrait as a young girl, clad in red scarf, got global popularity. She was called the ‘Afghan Girl’ and ‘Mona Lisa’ of the Afghan war since many didn’t know her real name for years.
Steve McCurry searched for Sharbat Gula for several years but only found her in 2002 as a grown up woman clad in shuttlecock burqa. Her picture in a blue burqa while holding her 18-year old picture also got global popularity.
Pakistan has launched a crackdown against illegal Afghans all over Khyber Pakhtunkhwa after the attack on the Army Public School last year.According to the officials only those Afghans who do not posses any refugee card or travel document are being deported.
The federal and Khyber Pakht unkhwa governments have ordered the deportation of all the illegal Afghan refugees and investigation into the cases of those who have fraudulently made Pakistani CNICs by submitting false information.The police, however, have been directed not to harm those who possess refugee cards issued by the UNHCR as they are entitled to stay in Pakistan till December 2015.