The Sindh High Court (SHC) has issued a stern reprimand to the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) for mishandling citizens’ records, which has caused considerable public distress.
In a recent hearing, the court ordered NADRA to rectify the records of Muhammad Hussain, a retired employee, within 15 days following the blocking of his national identity card.
This directive emerged from a petition contesting the blockage of the retired employee’s identity card. A bench, including Justice Salahuddin Panhwar and Justice Amjad Ali Sahito, reviewed the case on Tuesday.
The petitioner’s attorney revealed that Hussain’s identity card was initially blocked in 2021 and again in 2022. Despite Hussain’s claims, confirmed by an affidavit, that he does not recognize six individuals listed as relatives on his family tree, NADRA has not resolved the issue, resulting in the suspension of his pension payments.
Further scrutiny by Justice Sahito revealed that 1.2 million passports were returned from Saudi Arabia due to issues related to NADRA’s oversight. He criticized the organization’s integrity, questioning how individuals unrelated to a family could be listed in its tree without NADRA officials’ involvement.
The court emphasized that Muhammad Hussain, a retired railway employee and Pakistani citizen, should not need to submit additional evidence of his identity.
The judges have given NADRA a 15-day deadline to resolve the matter.
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