The National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) has launched disciplinary proceedings against numerous officers, suspending and charging eight, with more than a dozen expected to face penalties.
The action targets Nadra staff, including three from senior management—Usman Cheema and Usman Javed, both Director Generals (DG) of Technical, Karachi DG Network Ahmarin Mir, Faisal Ayub, Khair Mohammad Soomro, Rana Zulfiqar, Ali Mohiuddin, and Muhammad Ibad—according to sources.
A NADRA spokesperson confirmed the disciplinary steps following a joint investigation team’s (JIT) advice. Due to privacy and legal reasons, specific names involved in the ongoing actions were not disclosed.
The JIT, led by the Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) Syed Waqaruddin and including input from sensitive agency representatives and NADRA nominees, confirmed the theft of personal information of approximately 2.7 million Pakistanis from NADRA’s database. It established that the breach occurred between 2019 and 2023 and was officially submitted to the Ministry of Interior.
The investigation pinpointed the origins of data theft to Nadra offices in Multan, Karachi, and Peshawar, recommending punitive actions against officials for their oversight failures.
The leaked data reportedly travelled from Multan to Peshawar, then to Dubai, and was purportedly sold in Argentina and Romania.
