
To cover his inefficiency, the interior minister has ordered reverification of CNICs for the whole public
LARKANA: Malpractice, mismanagement and corruption are products of bad governance. At the end of the day, the public is punished for no fault of theirs. Recently, in the wake of Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Mansoor’s death in a drone attack in Balochistan, our government decided to get the public’s computerised national identity cards (CNICs) reverified because Mullah Mansoor was using a Pakistani passport, through which he impersonated as Wali Muhammad. Instead of taking strong action against potential corrupt operatives that may exist in NADRA, the decision of reverifying the CNICs of all citizens is not only illogical but also ridiculous as NADRA supposedly issues CNICs to citizens only after collecting all necessary supporting documents. In principle, the issuing authority of CNICs and passports to the dead Taliban leader should have been thoroughly investigated and taken to task for this audacious crime of granting citizenship to the person in question. This man and many others like him have tarnished the image of our dear homeland. Besides, this is breach of discipline and misuse of authority. Whereas reports about the corrupt practice of issuing bogus CNICs by NADRA were published in national newspapers time and again, no strategy was put in place by the quarters concerned to discourage the malpractice and the reasons remain unknown and unexplained, even today.
What was the ministry concerned doing when such crimes were occurring under its watch? Why is a blunder by someone else being used to punish the general public in our country? Is it not the incompetence of Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan since NADRA operates under his ministry?
To cover his inefficiency, and bail out those who committed this crime, the interior minister has ordered reverification of CNICs for the whole public. The reverification is being done through text messaging so those who are not cellphone users will face the trauma of having to visit NADRA offices and standing in long queues. It may be further noted that this would primarily include the elderly generation. Had timely action been taken against the black sheep within NADRA, the public would not have been in troubled waters because, after all, a stitch in time saves nine.
Nazeer Ahmed Arijo
Published in The Express Tribune, July 17th, 2016.
Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.