The court has given the National Database Registration Authority (NADRA) a week to respond to a petition on issuing computerised national identity cards (CNICs) to Bengalis.
On Friday, a Sindh High Court division bench, comprising Chief Justice Mushir Alam and Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, was hearing a petition filed by Muhammad Jaleel and Muhammad Ans. The interior ministry’s secretary and Nadra’s system engineer were cited as respondents. The petitioners said that they are Pakistani citizens by birth and possess all the necessary documents, some of which date back to the 1970s.
Showing copies of their NICs and CNICs, they said they applied to renewals but their application was rejected. They asked the court to declare this act of NADRA and its National Swift Registration Centre in New Karachi Town as a violation of fundamental rights.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 15th, 2011.
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