Some 3.5 Million Afghans Have Pakistani ID Cards

Pakistan Interior Ministry claimed that 3.5 million Afghan nationals have Pakistani ID cards or Computerised National Identity Cards (CNICs). Pakistani media reported that Pakistan Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said that some 25,000 of illegal CNICs were blocked yesterday. He stressed that for the past few decades some 3.5 million Afghans have acquired Pakistani ID cards or CNICs and live in Pakistan. Ali Khan further state that the issue of blocked CNICs should not be politicised as this issue is not related to Pashtun, Punjabis, Sindhis or Balochis but it’s a national issue. “Our objective is not against Pashtun,” he further clarified. Ali Khan reiterated that 33,025 passports have been cancelled during the tenure of the present government including 32,740 of Afghans. During the re-verification of CNICs, 3,640 persons returned illegal passports willingly with a condition that no action will be taken against them. Out of these 3,579 persons are from Afghanistan, 58 are from Bangladesh, and one each from India, Indonesia, and Iraq.