ISLAMABAD: Federal Ministry for States and Frontier Regions (SAFRON) and NADRA have signed an agreement to develop database for the documentation of Afghan refugees in Pakistan.
The ceremony was held on Thursday where a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed witnessed by Federal Minister for States and Frontier Regions (SAFRON) Lt. Gen (retd) Abdul Qadir Baloch and Chairman NADRA.
Nadra will take around ten months to complete the database and will establish around 21 centers and mobile units for documentation. The symbolic centers are expected to function from first week of July while all 21 centers will be operational by August. There are currently 0.6 million individuals who are expected to be documented.
SAFRON Minister speaking on the occasion highlighted the importance of the agreement and said that the federal ministry has been making efforts since the last four to materialise the agreement. He said this would verify the actual number of Afghan nationals residing in many remote areas including Balochistan and would assist in the national census as it would prevent the duplicity of data.
The documentation will also be witnessed and verified by Afghan officials and nationals to enable undocumented individuals to get proper documents and thus protect them from harassment.
The minister has said that he will seek further cooperation from provincial governments and political parties also.
Chairman NADRA has said that the verification of Afghan nationals will be carried out in cooperation with Afghan officials and notables and NADRA is fully capable to handle such types of projects.
