FIA arrests NADRA assistant director as Pakistan’s institutions move against corruption at the heart of the national identity system
By Dr Muhammad Shahid
ISLAMABAD: A Pakistani national identity card is a key to citizenship, property, employment and public services. Investigators say one insider tried to sell that key to outsiders for profit, and the state’s own agencies caught him.
A senior official of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) told Kabul Times that the FIA Counter-Terrorism Wing had arrested Aftab, an assistant director at the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA). He is accused of taking Rs120 million to restore the cancelled Computerised National Identity Cards (CNICs) of 51 Afghan nationals, whose cards had been blocked after they were found ineligible.
A trail from the database to the land registry
According to FIA officials, the arrest followed an intelligence-based operation. Investigators raided the suspect’s residence and recovered Rs1.9 million in cash.
The rest of the money is where the case gets more serious. Preliminary findings suggest most of the proceeds were converted into real estate. Investigators have secured ownership documents for high-value plots in Havelian and in Islamabad’s G-15 sector, a paper trail that could support the recovery of illicit assets.
Why It matters
Cancelled CNICs are blocked for a reason, and restoring them undoes the checks that protect the country. Security analysts have long warned that fraudulent identity documents and compromised registries create serious internal security risks. A single fraudulent card can give an unauthorized individual access to banking, SIM registration, property transactions and travel documents.
The case also shows the state working as it should. The cancellations, the intelligence work, the arrest and the recovery of assets all came from the national institutions. Officials say the action reflects a firm position against threats to national security that arise from within public offices.
Investigation widens
The official said that the FIA had expanded the probe. Specialized teams are examining possible domestic and external accomplices linked to the network, including who brokered the payments and whether other cancelled identities were reactivated.
Authorities say audits and oversight of the national database infrastructure will continue across the board to protect state sovereignty and institutional integrity. The result of this investigation will show whether internal safeguards are strong enough to keep the national identity system out of the hands of those who would sell it.
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