Meer Aftab Vs Federation of Pakistan through Secretary Interior Federal Secretary Islamabad and others.

JUDGMENT SHEET

PESHAWAR HIGH COURT, PESHAWAR

JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT

W.P. No.6280-P of 2026 Meer Aftab Vs.

Federation of Pakistan through Secretary Interior Federal Secretariat Islamabad and others Date of hearing 05.10.2026 For Petitioner(s): M/s Arshad Khan Kundal and Sadaf Khan Advocates.

For Respondent(s): Mr. Bilal Ahmad Durrani AAG for Federation.

For NADRA: M/s Abdur Rauf, Muhammad Mubarak & Shahid Imran Gigyani, Law Officers.

JUDGMENT

WIQAR AHMAD, J. Brief facts giving rise to the instant writ petition, are that petitioner, Meer Aftab son of Khitab Gul, is a Pakistani citizen residing at Kandy Payan, Peshawar, and holds CNIC No.17301-8495614-3. He served in the Pakistan Army and retired in the year 1997, whereafter he has been receiving pension from the Government of Pakistan/Pakistan Army in accordance with the applicable rules. Prior to the introduction of computerized national identity system, petitioner had also been issued a Manual National Identity Card (MNIC). The

petitioner assert that his family members, including his father, forefathers, wife and children, are Pakistani citizens and possess CNICs issued by the competent authority. It is further stated that petitioner recently came to know, while attempting to withdraw his pension, that his CNIC had been

blocked/digitally impounded, as a consequence whereof he was unable to withdraw his pension and his bank account was also temporarily blocked. The petitioner contends that blockage/digital impounding of his CNIC has caused him serious hardship and has adversely affected his ordinary affairs and fundamental rights. Having no other adequate and efficacious remedy, petitioner has invoked constitutional jurisdiction of this Court through instant writ petition.

2.Arguments heard and record perused.

3.While responding to case of the petitioner, respondents have stated in the para iii & iv of their comments as follows;

“iii. That the CNIC of the petitioner is digitally impounded in alien category, the petitioner son is verified as Afghan national / Asylum seeker at Italy by the verifying agency. The petitioner appeared before zonal verification board and presented his CNIC based on MNIC # W.P. No.6280-P/2026

13789240078, he himself served in FC Balochistan, as per DRO report MNIC is verified, however his case was rejected, that the complete family is required to appear before the board including Mr. Abdullah CNIC # 1730187772835 Asylum seeker. (Copy of IB report is attached as Annex-A)

iv. That the petitioner is required to re appear before the zonal verification board with his complete family for clearance and provide documents as per rules 20 of the NIC amended Rules 2002”.

4.It is clear from the comments submitted by the respondents that they have not disputed that the petitioner is a citizen of Pakistan.

Rather, they have mentioned that he had also served in Frontier Corps, Balochistan, and that his antecedents had been duly verified. The only reason assigned for blocking his CNIC was that his son had used a passport of a foreign country (Afghanistan) for regularizing his stay in Italy.

We find that for the given reasons CNIC of petitioner could not have been blocked. No person can be penalized for the act of another.

There is no justification for collective punishment, nor is NADRA vested with any authority to penalize a person and that also for the acts or conduct of another. This cannot be regarded as a stand-alone case, as a number of overseas Pakistanis may have adopted similar means for regularizing their stay in European or W.P. No.6280-P/2026

other advanced countries. It is, therefore, not appropriate for NADRA authorities to penalize the parents or other family members of such overseas Pakistanis. The settled function of NADRA is to verify and re-verify the national status of persons; such authority, however, cannot be exercised in a manner that places duly verified Pakistani nationals at a disadvantage or subject them to unnecessary hardship and inconvenience.

5.In the case in hand, there was no apparent doubt regarding the Pakistani nationality of the petitioner. Blocking of his CNIC merely because his son had obtained a foreign passport for the purpose of regularizing his stay in Italy was, therefore, found to be illogical, unreasonable and unlawful. It is also astonishing to note that the petitioner had appeared before the Zonal Verification Board and produced his CNIC, MNIC and service record, which were found satisfactory; nevertheless, his case was rejected by the NADRA authorities. The petitioner was further required to appear before the Board along with all his family members, including his son Abdullah, who had sought asylum in Italy.

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Here again, NADRA authorities appear to have adopted an illogical approach. Once the NADRA authorities had found the petitioner to be a Pakistani citizen, he could not have been subjected to the requirement of producing before the Board a person who was earning his livelihood in Italy. The Board was not concerned with the manner in which Abdullah had obtained asylum in Italy. If there was any issue concerning the status or conduct of Abdullah, same could have been dealt in accordance with law in his respect but penalizing his father (who was admittedly a Pakistani citizen) was not lawful. Reliance here is also placed on judgment of this Court rendered in the case of “Muhammad Avais Khan Vs Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa through Secretary Home and Tribal Affairs and others” reported as 2018 PLC CS Note 31. Relevant observation made therein are reproduced herein for ready reference;

“6. Allah the Almighty says in the Holy Quran "This is the Book about which there is no doubt” (2:2)

Surah An-Najam, Verse (Ayath) 38 in Para No.27 as below:

“That no burdened person shall bear the burden of another"... (38:27)

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"Meaning, every soul shall carry its own injustices, whether disbelief or sin, and none else shall carry its burden of sin, as Allah states"

"And if one heavily laden calls another to (bear) his load, nothing of it will be lifted even though he be near of kin". (35:18).

7.This being the Supreme Law and we being the Muslims have to bow before this divine dictum.

8.The Petitioner cannot be punished for the criminal activities of his brother being involved in terrorism and having been declared and enlisted in Schedule-IV of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997 has therefore a cause of action. He is rightly held entitled to be furnished character certificate which shall be free from any such condition of involvement of his brother in militancy”.

6.Although NADRA is vested with the power to cancel, impound or confiscate an identity card, yet the power is not unlimited and is regulated by sub-section (2) of section 18 of National Database and Registration Authority Ordinance, 2000 (hereinafter referred to as the “NADRA Ordinance”). Section 18(2) specifically prescribes the grounds upon which an identity card may be cancelled, impounded or confiscated. For ready reference, section 18 of the NADRA Ordinance is reproduced herein below;

18.Power to cancel, Impound or confiscate cards.

(1)A card issued under this Ordinance shall be the property of the Federal Government and may, by an order in writing under the seal of the Authority or an officer authorised by it in this behalf, be required to be returned and shall also be W.P. No.6280-P/2026

liable to be cancelled, impounded or confiscated by a like order:

Provided that no order shall be made unless such person has been given notice in writing calling upon him to show cause why the order should not be made.

(2)An order under sub-section (1) cancelling, impounding or confiscating a card may be made only if there is reason to believe that-

(a)the card has been obtained by a person who is not eligible to hold such card, by posing himself as eligible;

(b)more than one cards have been obtained by the same person on the same eligibility criteria;

(c)the particulars shown on the card have been obliterated or tampered with; or

(d)the card is forged.

(3)Any person in respect of whose card an order under sub-section (1) has been made may, within thirty days of the order, appeal to the Federal Government against the order and the decision of the Federal Government in appeal shall be final:

Provided that no order on such appeal shall be passed unless the appellant has been given an opportunity of being heard.

7.Sub-section (1) of section 18 of the NADRA Ordinance confers power upon NADRA to cancel, impound or confiscate an identity card already issued, however, sub-section (2) places a statutory limitation on the exercise of such power by prescribing specific grounds on the basis of which an order under sub-section (1) may be made. The powers of NADRA authorities to cancel or block a CNIC has been provides in the following case only; (a) a case where the card W.P. No.6280-P/2026

was obtained by a person who was not eligible to hold it (by posing himself as eligible); (b) where more than one card was obtained by same person on same eligibility criteria; (c) where the particulars shown on the card were obliterated or tampered with; (d) where the card was forged. None of the aforesaid grounds has been shown to exist in the case in hand. The impounding of the petitioner's CNIC, as well as decision of the Zonal Verification Board rejecting his request for clearance, were, therefore, found to be without lawful authority and of no legal effect.

8.In light of what has been discussed above, instant writ petition is allowed as prayed for.

The respondents, particularly NADRA authorities, are directed to unblock the CNIC of petitioner within seven (07) days from receipt of this judgment. A copy of this judgment shall also be forwarded to worthy Chairman, NADRA, for his perusal and for considering appropriate policy intervention in the matter, so that other Pakistani citizens, whose family members have obtained foreign status or documents for regularizing their stay abroad, are not subjected W.P. No.6280-P/2026

to similar inconvenience and hardship in their homeland.

Announced --sd--

05.10.2026 JUDGE

--sd--

JUDGE

(DB)Hon’ble Mr. Justice Wiqar Ahmad J. Hon’ble Mr. Justice Kamran Hayat Miankhel J. *Atif Zafar JSS*

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