‘Addressing’ confusion: NADRA told to address false ID cards controversy

Authority asks to submit report into the Bahria Town case.

ISLAMABAD: In a bid to address a controversy regarding false addresses on identity cards, the Supreme Court (SC) asked the National Database Registration Authority (NADRA) to submit a detailed report on Thursday.

The report seeks information in connection with the illegal issuance of 4,133 Computerized National Identity Cards (CNICs) with the temporary residential address of Bahria Town, Rawalpindi as well as NADRA’s mobile registration vans operating throughout the country.

(Read: ‘Prove your identity’: CNIC holders to be registered as voters after verification)

A three-member bench comprising Justice Mian Shahkarullah Jan, Justice Jawwad S. Khawaja and Justice Khilji Arif Hussain resumed hearing of a suo motu case concerning the issuance of CNICs with fake temporary addresses for 20,000 employees of Bahria Town, located in Rawalpindi’s National Assembly-52 (NA-52) constituency. Sheikh Akram, counsel for applicant Muhammad Rashid Hashmi, informed the bench that thousands of fake CNICs issued by NADRA in Bahria Town would deprive genuine residents of NA-52 of representation in the National Assembly.

NADRA’s counsel Afnan Kundi apprised the bench that the registration process was stopped in Bahria Town immediately after the SC’s orders on August 19 and an inquiry report conducted by NADRA was also submitted in court.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 16^th,  2011.