Citizenship rights

National Identity Cards are not a norm in all countries of the world. Some countries have passports as primary identification documents, others have ration cards or educational certificates, and others have social security IDs. In Pakistan, the first Bhutto administration in the 1970s introduced national identity cards and then nearly 25 years later General Musharraf launched the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA). The rationale behind NADRA was that the old paper-based system of identification had become obsolete in the 21st century and new digital modes of storing and retrieving data were more appropriate for people’s identification as citizens. That, however, did not guarantee citizenship rights to everyone in Pakistan, nor did it protect people from having their citizenship right cancelled.

Now in a welcome move, the Islamabad High Court has taken action against such arbitrary cancellations of computerized identity cards (CNICs) by NADRA. The case of JUI-F leader Maulana Hafiz Hamdullah became a turning point in this matter. In 2019, NADRA cancelled Hamdullah’s CNIC which was tantamount to revoking his citizenship. The reason given for this strange action was that Hamdullah had obtained his identity documents through forgery, hence Nadra considered him an alien in Pakistan. In a clear judgment, the IHC has reiterated that one of the most basic human rights is to possess citizenship documents. Depriving people of their citizenship is essentially taking away their political and social rights too as the state refuses to recognize them without a proper citizenship card or paper.

The court’s order to restore the CNIC of the former senator and other petitioners is a sound decision that is likely to serve as a deterrent for any such attempts on the part of a state institution in the future since the issue goes further than the case of Hafiz Hamdullah alone. The Pakistani state is quick to deny citizenship, although the constitution of Pakistan states that every person has the right to a state and not be rendered stateless. Declaring someone stateless is not a small issue. The issue also extends to Pakistanis born in the former East Pakistan and also India. There are many cases in Karachi, particularly where the Bengali community is clustered, in which this has happened. After the IHC’s judgment it has become clear that NADRA has no jurisdiction to initiate such proceedings on the basis of intelligence reports that end up being dubious in most cases. In Pakistan, and in many other countries, sometimes the state machinery takes it upon itself to decide about the bona fides of a claim to citizenship. The law of our land is clear about what the powers of NADRA are. They do not include stripping people of their citizenship. And this is something that needs to be taken more seriously given that stateless people suffer so much in the world in which we live in today, with refugees spread out across the globe, including some in our country.