Under pressure: Govt heads off crisis as NADRA chief bows out

PM names Imtiaz Tajwar as temporary head, preventing a huge backlog of ID card applications.

ISLAMABAD:

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Friday staved off a potential identity card issuance crisis that was sparked hours earlier by National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) chief Tariq Malik’s sudden resignation.

The prime minister hurriedly ordered a stop-gap measure, naming Additional Interior Secretary Imtiaz Tajwar as a temporary replacement for Malik. The move will help NADRA avert what officials have described as an expected backlog of over 50,000 identity card applications a day in case the chairman’s post remained vacant.

“After having served my country and NADRA for more than five and a half years with honesty, integrity and distinction, I believe now that I should resign from the office of [NADRA] chairman/registrar general of Pakistan in the best interest of the organisation I have served for,” read the text of Malik’s resignation.

“My resignation should be accepted with immediate effect,” Malik said in his letter. Sources in the prime minister’s office said PM Nawaz accepted Malik’s resignation.

Officials told The Express Tribune that the premier also approved a summary giving Additional Interior Secretary Imtiaz Tajwar the additional charge of NADRA chairman.



A new controversy brews

But by giving Tajwar additional charge of NADRA, the government may find itself embroiled in a new controversy. According to the officials, the move goes against the spirit of the NADRA Ordinance 2000 which stipulates that no one apart from a member of the authority’s executive board can be appointed its chairman.

Until 2pm Friday, Tajwar had not been part of NADRA’s executive board – constituted to run the authority’s affairs on January 3 – the officials said. His name was included to the list of the board’s members on the orders of the prime minister to pave the way for granting him the additional charge, they added.

“The move was aimed at averting the looming backlog of tens of thousands of computerised national identity cards (CNICs) and other identification documents,” a senior government official said.

“[Tajwar] will hold this responsibility for the coming few days, until the NADRA board meets to select an interim chairman,” read the official statement released by the government on Friday.

“The appointment of the new regular/full-time NADRA chairman will be done on open merit after advertisement as per the NADRA Ordinance. This process will be initiated in a few days [as well],” it added.

Five men in the reckoning

Sources in the interior ministry said that NADRA Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Director General Col (retd) Khalid Khattak, Punjab DG Brig (retd) Zahid Iqbal, Multan DG Brig (retd) Sajjad Hussain, Sindh DG Brig (retd) Zahid Hussain and Balochistan DG Brig (retd) Javed Lodhi were being considered for the coveted job.

When contacted, the interior secretary – who prepared the summary for giving Tajwar the additional charge of NADRA – refused to comment on the matter.

The latest development will likely affect the deployment of the newly developed electronic voting machines at all polling stations across the country, a former NADRA chief said.

Opposition fumes

The two main opposition parties criticised the government over the development.

“It is most unfortunate that the NADRA Chairman has been forced to resign because he refused to toe the government’s line on thumbprint verification in some sensitive constituencies,” said Senator Farhatullah Babar of Pakistan Peoples Party.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Central Information Secretary Dr Shireen Mazari said the development “adds to prevailing suspicions that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz is fearful of allowing thumbprint verification on votes.”

Separately, the Federal Investigation Agency team probing Tariq Malik has requested the interior ministry to put his name on the Exit Control List for not providing required information.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 11^th, 2014.