An inquiry report has uncovered a disturbing revelation that hundreds of Iranian nationals and other foreigners managed to obtain fraudulent Pakistani identity cards and passports through various NADRA (National Database and Registration Authority) centers in the province of Balochistan.
According to the NADRA report, which was recently acquired by HUM English, a total of 223 Iranians were issued counterfeit identity cards from the NADRA center in Panjgur alone.
These individuals with fake Pakistani identities subsequently procured Pakistani passports and used them to travel to various countries, including Saudi Arabia, the United States, the United Arab Emirates, and several European nations.
The report further exposed that multiple NADRA employees were accused of being involved in providing fake identity cards to Iranian citizens. These illicit activities were reportedly conducted in exchange for bribes. Moreover, the issuance of these forged identity cards by an organized group came to the attention of NADRA’s senior management.
The issue of fake ID cards issued by NADRA has been a longstanding concern in Pakistan, posing a significant threat to national security.
In a previous development, NADRA had already identified and declared 155,000 ID cards as counterfeit.
The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has been actively probing this issue of fake ID cards and has apprehended several NADRA officials and agents implicated in the fraudulent scheme.
Furthermore, the FIA revealed that certain NADRA employees had facilitated individuals associated with banned organizations, including TTP (Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan), AQIS (Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent), and Baloch separatist groups, in obtaining Computerized National Identity Cards (CNICs) in exchange for financial and other gains.
In response to these concerns, the FIA has introduced a new system allowing citizens to verify their family tree through SMS, thus preventing the inclusion of unrelated individuals in the family records for fake identity cards.
This ongoing issue of fake ID cards issued by NADRA has raised serious doubts about the agency’s reliability and integrity as an institution. It has also underscored the urgent need for addressing the system and procedural weaknesses within NADRA to safeguard national security and the integrity of official identification documents.
