Kashmiri author’s NICOP: NADRA to file report on denial procedure
The Kashmiri activist was deemed by intelligence agencies to be an anti-state writer
The Kashmiri activist was deemed by intelligence agencies to be an anti-state writer. PHOTO: EXPRESS
ISLAMABAD:
The Islamabad High Court on Monday directed the National Database Registration Authority (NADRA) to submit a detailed report explaining under which provisions of the law, apart from an intelligence agency report, were identity documents of a United Kingdom-based Kashmiri politician not renewed.
IHC Justice Athar Minallah also directed NADRA to state its policy for blocking identity cards within a fortnight.
The directions were issued to the database authority on a petition filed by Dr Shabir Choudhry, who sought a court intervention for the renewal of his National Identity Card for Overseas Pakistanis (NICOP). The matter had allegedly been pending for over a year due to his political work and writings on Pakistan’s Kashmir policy.
He has made the NADRA chairman, the office in-charge of the NADRA Registration Centre in London, and the Foreign Affairs secretary respondents.
In October, NADRA, through its counsel Junaid Jafar, had replied that the Shabir’s NICOP was blocked because “the petitioner has been reported by the ISI to be involved in anti-state and subversive activities.”
The petitioner, being a citizen of Pakistan, did not fulfill the basic obligations to be loyal to the state under Article 5 of the Constitution, the reply read. It added he was not entitled to claim renewal of his NICOP for this reason.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 8th, 2016.
The Islamabad High Court on Monday directed the National Database Registration Authority (NADRA) to submit a detailed report explaining under which provisions of the law, apart from an intelligence agency report, were identity documents of a United Kingdom-based Kashmiri politician not renewed.
IHC Justice Athar Minallah also directed NADRA to state its policy for blocking identity cards within a fortnight.
The directions were issued to the database authority on a petition filed by Dr Shabir Choudhry, who sought a court intervention for the renewal of his National Identity Card for Overseas Pakistanis (NICOP). The matter had allegedly been pending for over a year due to his political work and writings on Pakistan’s Kashmir policy.
He has made the NADRA chairman, the office in-charge of the NADRA Registration Centre in London, and the Foreign Affairs secretary respondents.
In October, NADRA, through its counsel Junaid Jafar, had replied that the Shabir’s NICOP was blocked because “the petitioner has been reported by the ISI to be involved in anti-state and subversive activities.”
The petitioner, being a citizen of Pakistan, did not fulfill the basic obligations to be loyal to the state under Article 5 of the Constitution, the reply read. It added he was not entitled to claim renewal of his NICOP for this reason.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 8th, 2016.