ISLAMABAD – The National Database and Registration Authority yesterday got final approval from the Ministry of Interior to launch national drive of CNICs re-verification across Pakistan from July 1.
Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan gave final approval to start the CNICs (computerized national identity cards) re-verification drive that was announced after the killing of Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour in a US drone strike on May 24.
The approval was given at a meeting chaired by the interior minister and attended by the interior secretary, the Nacta national coordinator, the Nadra chairman and other senior officials.
The chair directed Nadra to give timeline for finalisation of all cases involving blockage of CNICs.
Nadra informed the chair that a helpline capable of handling 10,000 calls and an SMS gateway of 150,000 SMS per day had been set up to facilitate the general public who would report suspected CNICs issued to aliens.
The meeting was told that training for needed human resources had also been completed to ensure successful completion of national CNIC re-verification drive.
Earlier, the interior minister had given a six-month deadline to Nadra for re-verification of over 105 million CNICs, including 25 million family trees, while declaring it an important milestone pertaining to the national security.
The re-verification drive was announced following a revelation that Mullah Akhtar Mansour had been using fake Pakistani CNIC and passport for his international travelling.
A Pakistani CNIC and a passport were found a few yards away from the wreckage of the vehicle in which the Taliban leader was killed in a drone strike in Balochistan.
The minister said the CNIC re-verification scheme would start from July 1.
The multi-pronged strategy comprises data analysis schemes for verification, including across-the-board fraud detection and mathematical modeling, utilisation of Pakistan Telecommunication Authority’s data for identification of aliens, amnesty scheme, helpline and detection of family tree intrusion through SMS.
Chaudhry Nisar remarked that side by side with this multi-pronged exercise, the input by joint verification committees would continue to identify the aliens who have illegally acquired CNICs.
He directed the Nadra to ensure utilisation of all its resources to achieve the desired objective of removing aliens from its database within the given timeline.
The meeting also approved media strategy of Nadra for awareness of the general masses.
It was also decided that CNIC re-verification awareness campaign should also be launched in local ethnic languages.
“This would help Nadra to create awareness over the importance of this national security campaign among various communities with different languages and backgrounds,” remarked the minister.
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