‘Pakistanis cannot get CNICs unblocked due to corruption’

ISLAMABAD: A resident of Waziristan told the Senate Standing Committee on Interior on Monday that his father’s CNIC had been blocked since 2012 because his family is one of the 18 tribes which live on both sides of the Durand Line.

Wali Khan Suleman Khel, a post-graduate student at the Peshawar University, was especially invited to the meeting due to his public petition being received in the upper house. The committee’s meeting was held in Parliament House and was chaired by Senator Rehman Malik.

“I have exhausted all efforts for unblocking my father’s CNIC but no one listens to me. My family has owned land in Pakistan since 1983-84 and no one considers that. I am not alone, a large number of people are facing the same problem,” Mr Khel said.

He claimed that the officials who were responsible for blocking identity cards openly demand bribes and those who are not able to pay the heavy amounts are threatened to be sent to Afghanistan.

“I was born in 1992 and studied in Pakistan but people think I am Afghan due to my accent. A large number of people are not able to make domiciles for their children because their own CNICs are blocked,” he said.

On the other hand, an official of the National Database and Registration Authority said that according to a report by the intelligence bureau, the head of the family was alien.

Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf legislator Azam Swati said a large number of people face problems due to their CNIC’s being blocked.

“Even the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly has passed a resolution for addressing the issue. Pakistanis have not been able to unblock their CNICs due to corruption,” he said.

Jamaat-i-Islami chief Sirajul Haq said that 114,000 people are facing the same problem when they had documents to prove they are Pakistanis.

“I can give you a number of examples. Even those who served as councillors in the local government system under Ziaul Haq have had their CNIC’s blocked. I can bring thousands of people to the committee as proof,” he said.

Senator Malik then directed Mr Khel to submit his documents and said his father’s CNIC should be unblocked.

The committee decided to call parliamentarians from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas to discuss the issue on March 25.

The committee also passed a resolution against US lawmaker Ted Poe who introduced a bill in Congress to declare Pakistan a “state sponsor of terrorism”.

PTI legislator Azam Swati, who has studied under Poe, criticised the Pakistani government and overseas Pakistanis for lobbying for Mr Poe to make him congressman after 2005.

Mr Poe is the chair of the House Subcommittee on Terrorism and has said that Pakistan is an untrustworthy ally and has also supported and helped US enemies for years. He has said that there are many examples which can prove that Pakistan supports terrorism including relations with Osama Bin Laden and the Haqqani network.

Senator Malik said Mr Poe had tabled a similar bill last year which the then US President Barack Obama had rejected and hoped President Trump will do the same.

The resolution was unanimously passed by all the committee members present including PML-N’s Chaudhry Tanveer Khan, MQM’s Mian Ateeq Sheikh and JI chief Sirajul Haq.

Source: Dawn