Watan Cards for the deceased

Lists for Watan Cards include names of people who have been dead for over a decade.

SARGODHA/MIANWALI: Flood victims throughout southern Punjab continue to protest against the unfair distribution of Watan Cards. Villagers have accused National Database Registration Authority (Nadra) and local authorities of resorting to nepotism and forgery in order to allot Watan Cards to their relatives and friends.

In Mocha, NADRA lists for Watan Cards include the names of people who have been dead for over a decade including jail prisoners on death row. “It is as if they have deliberately selected hundreds of names of people who couldn’t possibly claim the cards so that they can hand them out to their own people,” said flood victim Fazal Din, adding that he knew of hundreds of people who had not received Watan Cards.

“Deserving people are being overlooked for dead people!” he said.

Locals say that authorities and Nadra officials have been incredibly strict about only allotting cards to people who have been named in their list. “They have complete control over which names go on the list and which don’t,” said Amanat Shah, a flood victim in Muzaffargarh.

Social worker Ahmed Nawaz, former counsellor Mushtaq Ahmed, Rafiullah, Haris Khan, Muhammad Asad Khan , Mushtaq Ahmed, Muhammad Ramzan alias Mani Qasab demanded that Nadra should review its lists as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, inmates in the Mianwali jail whose names are actually on the Watan Card list are being denied financial aid.

The prisoner’s said that the superintendent jail and district coordination officer (DCO) should help them get their watan cards so that they could help support their families. “We cannot help our families rebuild as we are serving our sentence but that doesn’t mean that our families shouldn’t receive any aid after our homes were destroyed,” said inmate Kashif.

The inmates said that their houses and crops were damaged and their wives and children were facing difficulties due to the recent floods. A visiting delegation, led by Ghulam Rasool and Anjuman Tajran Mocha president Haji Inayatullah Khan said that the government and Nadra should ensure that prisoners who had lost their homes in the floods were not overlooked in the distribution of Watan Cards.

In Kotla Pathlan, during the distribution of Watan Cards police from across the district was deputed at distribution centres for security. During the distribution the police stations were being run by a munshi and sentry. Police officials from across the district have been deputed at Watan Card centres on a daily basis since the distribution process started.

“It is mayhem, nearly every day there is some sort of brawl or fight at the distribution centre and we usually see most people leave without getting a card or cashing it in,” said police officer Khurram Haq. Police officials complained that the deployment of the entire force at Watan Card centres was affecting departmental work.  “We are no longer able to respond to any emergency or perform our regular duties,” Haq said.

Meanwhile, in Rahim Yar Khan flood victims protested against the DDOR for not including their names in Watan Card lists. “We have seen lists with the names of dozens of deceased people and other people who are serving life term sentences in prison,” said villagers from Karimabad, Muslimabad, Nunari Ghulam Muhammad Abad and Mud Minthar.

“Most of the names in the list belong to people who don’t even live in flood zones,” said Rasheed Hashmi, a Nunari Ghulam resident. Locals said that Nadra had simply allotted Watan Cards to people whose CNIC numbers were in their records and belonged to affected cities.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 12^th, 2010.