The National Assembly Standing Committee on Interior was informed in Islamabad that criminal proceedings would be initiated against those people who were in possession of multiple ID cards, more ever the cards of such people have also been blocked.
This information was shared by Interior Secretary Shahid Khan during the committee meeting earlier yesterday, presided over by Rana Shamim Ahmed Khan.
The committee had taken up the issue of multiple ID cards, cases of which are more common in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, after the matter was raised by MNA Sher Akbar Khan.
The MNA criticised Nadra for failing to execute its duties, adding that, “The ID cards of hardworking students were invalidated while agents, in collaboration with some government officials, are making good money helping Afghans get ID cards.”
After some members of the committee said they agreed with the MNA, the interior secretary said a long-term solution was to invalidate one of the cards.
However, the secretary wondered how people had two cards in the first place. “How did people manage to get more than one ID card and dodge the authorities? A fine is not enough; they should also face criminal proceedings so others will not do the same.”
Shahid Khan said people with two ID cards were not suspected to be terrorists by Nadra or by any other government department. However, they should be held responsible for not taking their nationality seriously.
Afterwards, PML-N’s Aslam Bodla and JUI-F’s Naeema Kishwar Khan brought up the issue of Nadra employees who were sacked for allegedly helping with fake and forged ID cards.
It was decided that a six-member subcommittee headed by Nawab Mohammad Yousuf Talpur would be formed for probing the matter and following it up with the interior ministry.
The National Assembly committee was also updated on the matter of arms licences. The federal government has set up December 31 as the deadline for revalidating all arms licences issued by the interior ministry.
Officials from the interior ministry said the federal government has so far issued 352,843 arms licences and permits. Of these, 171,033 have been submitted to Nadra for revalidation and 125,426 have been forwarded to the interior ministry for verification. The ministry has cleared 112,638 of them and 7,461 have been declared bogus.
Most of the bogus ones had been issued during the previous government.
The committee was informed that the PML-N led government has imposed a complete ban on issuing arms licences. However, officials said, some provinces were still issuing them.
The committee was also informed that the passport office in Wana will be reopened next month.
