Processing CNICs: Govt officials attesting documents of Afghan refugees booked

Police say all culprits will be arrested and produced in court.

PESHAWAR: Over 210 FIRs were registered on Wednesday against those who had attested documents of Afghan refugees and helped them obtain Pakistani CNICs.

The cases were registered after National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) shared names of government servants, politicians and former nazims who had attested the documents with the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa police last week.

The numbers

Speaking to The Express Tribune, a police official said 80 FIRs have been registered at Badhaber police station, 61 at Khazana police station, 35 at Daudzai police station, 10 at Urmar police station, two at Paharipura police station and 16 at Hayatabad police station. Furthermore, five FIRs have been registered at Pishtakhara police station and four at East Cantt police station.

All FIRs have been registered under the NADRA Ordinance 2000.

Taking a stand

According to the official, most Afghan refugees whose documents have been attested are living on the outskirts of the provincial capital.

“Government servants had attested their documents in order to help them obtain CNICs,” he said.

The official added IGP Nasir Durrani had ordered the police to register FIRs against those whose names were mentioned in the list sent to K-P police by NADRA’s director general in Islamabad.

“So far we have only registered FIRs,” he said. “These people will be arrested during the next phase and produced before a court.”

Earlier on Tuesday, K-P police issued directives to its officials across the province to immediately arrest all those involved in issuing fake CNICs. All regional and divisional police officers were asked to contact NADRA to obtain a list of those involved in this practice so that action can be taken against the culprits.

There are 1.6 million registered Afghan refugees in the country but some one million are estimated to be unregistered. However, a majority of them have managed to obtain CNICs.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 11^th, 2015.