On April 24, 2025, the Senate Committee on Interior and Narcotics received a briefing stating that Saudi authorities had identified 1,296 Afghan nationals travelling with fraudulent Pakistani passports.
The revelation, discussed during a meeting chaired by Senator Faisal Saleem Rehman at Parliament House, has prompted urgent calls for action against those responsible for issuing bogus documents.
Director General of Passports, Mustafa Jamal Qazi, disclosed that authorities uncovered 45 additional individuals with fraudulent passports, bringing the total number of cases to 1,341. Many individuals, mainly from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gujranwala, were deported to Afghanistan.
Qazi explained that officials had issued 12,000 fake passports, 4,500 without any data, 3,000 through photo-swapping, and 6,000 using data obtained via breaches at NADRA. He confirmed that none of Pakistan’s 12,000 bogus passport holders currently reside. Authorities penalised 35 assistant directors found directly involved in the scam.
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Senator Rehman directed the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) to provide a detailed report on actions against officials tampering with the national database at the next meeting. Senator Irfan Siddiqui questioned the issuance of non-Pakistani passports over the past five years, highlighting the need for stricter oversight. The committee also addressed fraudulent inclusions in CNIC family trees, with Nadra introducing physical verification and biometric checks of blood relatives to curb such abuses.
The committee reviewed Nadra’s policy requiring CNIC renewals every ten years. The chief operating officer explained that this ensures data accuracy and security. The discussion underscored Nadra’s ongoing efforts to modernise and strengthen its verification processes to prevent future fraud.
