Check on pilgrims: SHC seeks replies on biometric verification

Sindh High Court grants time until February 26 to authorities to submit replies

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court granted time until February 26 to authorities to submit replies on a petition challenging the biometric verification of Umrah pilgrims.

A two-member bench comprising Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Justice Agha Faisal heard the plea, where counsel for the petitioner, Rao Nasir, argued that the requirement of biometric verification was adding to the problems of Umrah pilgrims.

The counsel urged that the contract for biometric verification, currently awarded to an Indian company, should be awarded to NADRA.

Hundreds of thousands of Pakistanis go for Umrah every year and the lack of verification centres and unavailability of facilities is a source of inconvenience for the pilgrims.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 5^th, 2019.