Afghans suspected of trying to contest local government polls

NADRA’s help taken to draw up list of such candidates

SHABQADAR: The government has launched a verification operation to see if there are any candidates contesting local government elections who may have Pakistani identity cards but are actually Afghan nationals.

An official familiar with the matter told The Express Tribune on Monday the government had received a number of complaints that many aspirants for lower levels of the LG set-up—village and neighbourhood councils—were Afghan nationals.

The government has ordered its intelligence agencies to collect data about all such candidates suspected of not being of Pakistani origin. A copy of the report filed by the agencies would also be sent to the Election Commission of Pakistan as well as NADRA. Such candidates may be disqualified even after winning the polls, the official said on condition of anonymity. He further said the investigation was being carried out with NADRA’s assistance.

According to him, if the ID card of a candidate’s blood relative has been blocked by NADRA, that candidate’s name would be added to the list of suspected Afghan nationals. However, if the joint investigation teams investigating thousands of ID cards blocked in K-P have cleared such candidates’ relatives’ cards, the aspirant would be in the clear to contest.

He said the government was taking this action to prevent burdening courts with disqualification suits once such candidates were elected and their disqualification was then sought.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 19^th, 2015.