NADRA starts registration process for orphans

All orphanages asked to provide details of resident children by November 30.

ISLAMABAD: The National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) gave its final nod to kick off registration processes for orphans and those with a disputed parental identity, the authority announced on Wednesday.

In a statement issued here, NADRA spokesperson Naz Shoaib said the authority made the decision after extensive consultations with religious scholars in Saudi Arabia, Iran and Pakistan, including the Council of Islamic Ideology. NADRA is now set to update its software application to automate the data capturing process for orphans, she added. Prior to this decision, all orphanages in the country had to register themselves with NADRA, the spokesperson said. According to her, orphanages all over the country have already been asked to provide all relevant records of the children they house by November 30, 2012.

“With the completion of the registration process of orphanages, no individual can be deprived of his fundamental rights as ensured in the constitution …  Now children without known parentage will get their fundamental rights as citizens of Pakistan and get an identity under section 9 of NADRA Ordinance 2000,” said NADRA chairman Tariq Malik.

Earlier, almost a year ago, Interior minister Rehman Malik announced that abandoned children including orphans living in registered shelter homes in the country would get computerised national identity cards and passports free of cost and directed NADRA to accept registration forms from eligible children.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 8^th, 2012.