“Media should raise awareness among people, so that the women in NWFP’s rural areas and FATA register themselves to get computerised identity cards,” Moeen told reporter at the NADRA provincial headquarters.

The NADRA chairman said around 0.7 million FATA residents had been registered, adding, “Women’s registration in NWFP is about 48 percent, but it is very low in FATA.” He said that over 77 NADRA units were operating in NWFP to register people.
He said NADRA had state-of-the-art infrastructure and that nobody would face problems in getting a national identity card. “The NADRA does not need any birth certificates or other documentation from people, as it has a database that is capable of checking identity theft,” Moeen said, “A person with more than one identity card has to face a 10-year imprisonment.”
He said the authority would soon introduce an international standard software that would help people transfer money from one city to another. “We do not lack infrastructure, but that problem is a lack of awareness and motivation.” He said a single national identity card cost NADRA Rs 211.
Meanwhile, a NADRA press release said that in NWFP, the authority had issued around 7.1 million identity cards, including 2.29 million to women, in addition to 0.8 million in FATA.

Source: Daily Times

Date:1/20/2007