Identity crisis

Navigating Pakistan's
citizenship rights in Karachi
By Khaula Jamil

“Everywhere I go, they tell me I am a Bengali and that Bengalis are not entitled to (Pakistani) identity cards—they shove me out of the office. I have seen animals treated better than they treat us.”

Abdul Majid’s experience is not unique. The senior resident of Rehmanabad, a colony near Gujjar Nullah which is a heavily encroached upon location in Karachi, has made dozens of trips to various government offices in the hope that his ID card will be reissued.

Mohammad Mangal of Moosa Colony has the same dilemma.

“I am a PAKISTANI Bengali—not a Bangladeshi Bengali! Our forefathers gave their blood for this nation! Bangladesh considers us as traitors so where do we go if Pakistan refuses to accept us?”

The beginning of statelessness

There are two kinds of Bengalis living in Pakistan. The first are those who were living in West Pakistan (current-day Pakistan) prior to 1971 and chose to remain where they were after the creation of Bangladesh (formerly known as East Pakistan).

The second kind are the Bengalis who chose to migrate to Pakistan after 1971 and through the 1980s.

Regardless of the category, there is a clause in Pakistan’s citizenship laws that dealt with the 1971 separation that gave those who were migrating to Pakistan the right to citizenship. Theoretically, anyone with documents proving they have been in Pakistan prior to 1978 are eligible for statehood.

Most of the Bengali-speaking people were issued manual identity cards that were introduced in 1973. In 2000, however, when the computerized National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) came into being, the National Alien Registration Authority (Nara) was also created.

It was due to the formation of the Nara that thousands of legitimate identity cards of the Bengali-speaking community were either canceled or blocked and several of them were forced to register as aliens. Currently, sources state that there are 120,000 foreign nationals recorded in Nara’s database.

According to the Pakistani Bengali Action Committee, over 3,000 identity cards of the Bengali-speaking people living in Moosa Colony, Karachi, have been blocked and removed from the voter list.

Mohammad Mangal remembers he cast his first vote in 2008 after which he went to Dubai to work in the garment industry on a Pakistani passport. He returned to Pakistan and cast his last vote in 2013 after which his CNIC (Computerized National Identity Card) was blocked.

Struggles and unkept promises

An estimated 70 to 80 percent of identity cards of the 3 million Bengali-speaking population currently residing in Pakistan are stuck at some stage of the identification process.

There are no official figures that exist on record, however, private NGOs such as Imkaan Welfare Organization who provide legal aid in primarily stateless communities like Machhar Colony and Orangi Town, have gathered data to make informal projections.

For example, out of the 800,000 people living in Machhar Colony, approximately 400,000 are stateless Bengali. It is estimated that there are 126 such communities in the city. So far Imkaan Welfare Organization has managed to identify close to 65.

Pakistan has clear laws regarding birth right citizenship that state any child born in Pakistan will get Pakistani nationality.

Technically, only one parent’s ID card is sufficient to apply for a minor’s ID card. However, according to lawyer Tahera Hasan (director and founder of Imkaan Welfare Organization), this law is not seamlessly implemented due to systemic corruption and discrimination towards the Bengali community by many people in Pakistani society who feel Bengalis do not belong in Pakistan.

The lack of identity cards leaves the Bengali community extremely vulnerable as they cannot then get access to health care or vaccinations, seek justice or get a legal job.

Due to a high level of illiteracy, hundreds of them are completely unaware of their rights and are not able to attempt to resolve their problems which often involve working through tangled webs of legal procedures. Many of them claim they did not know they were required to get computerized identity cards in 2000.

Sheikh Muhammad Siraj, a Bengali-speaking resident of Moosa Colony, founded the Action Committee for Pakistani Bengalis in 1993 and became a self-appointed spokesperson for his people. He has been in communication with the ever-changing government officials, dictators and leaders of political parties for over two decades.

So far, he has managed to clear one family but has a list of at least 85 individual cases of blocked cards he is currently tackling. Despite being a prominent figure, his own card was blocked in 2014. It took Siraj two years and a trip to the Nadra headquarters in Islamabad to have his identity card reissued.

“The first time Nara came into being, I was issued a letter by Nadra to let my community know that they need to register as aliens,” he says. I categorically refused of behalf of my people. We are not aliens—we are citizens of Pakistan and we want to be recognized as such.“

Nara was subsequently dissolved in 2015 when it was merged with Nadra. However, in June 2021, the new Alien Registration Rules came into being, as a result of which Pakistani Bengalis face the same problem as before.

It has become a tool for discrimination. Registering as aliens means a person can only enroll their children in private schools and seek medical assistance in private (and much more expensive) hospitals, a kind of health and education this marginalized community cannot afford.

According to Tahera Hasan, corruption in Nadra played a major factor in discrimination towards the Bengalis. Dishonest officials viewed the situation as a money-making opportunity and exploited the vulnerable community in various ways, such as by making fake identity cards. Recently, however, she notes, there have been changes which facilitate the way that paperwork is processed.

Beauty Hakim of Rehmanabad suspects her card may have been blocked because of two intruders who were linked to her family in Nadra’s database (likely by corrupt officials).

Though she managed to have them removed, her own CNIC was flagged and sent to Islamabad for inquiry. With a severe diabetic foot which resulted in the loss of her toes, her health has spiraled under stress and anxiety. Beauty’s daughter completed her Bachelor’s degree but the college refused to issue her a certificate till she submitted either parents’ identity card. Beauty has been going from office to office to resolve this matter for 10 years without any luck.

“If we are not Pakistani and are to be punished for being Bengali then just line us up and shoot us,” she says, “just finish off our entire community once and for all!”

“I don’t think I will live to see the day when my ID card is cleared. My child will continue to suffer even after I die. She cannot apply for a Master’s degree nor get married because everyone asks about her education and ID card. We will be considered liars if we have no proof!”

Beauty’s neighbor, Tayyab Ali, recalls the time in 2006 when he and his young children were forcefully dragged by unknown persons to Nara and issued cards. He tried to tell his abductors that he already had a CNIC but they did not accept his word and declared, “Bengalis can’t get ID cards”.

“My boys were just 16 and 17 years old at the time but they didn’t care. They just forced them to register as aliens and told me if I ever tried to use my CNIC, I would be thrown in jail. Luckily our Nara cards never turned up in the system.”

In 2014, Tayyab Ali’s card was blocked when he tried to renew it for the third time and his case was sent to the Investigation Bureau in Islamabad for inquiry. He has been waiting for seven years.

“My brother-in-law died 24 years ago and Nadra issued someone else an identity card with his name and details. When a man unknown to us showed up in my wife’s family tree, Nadra officials accused us for having made this fake ID! How could they blame me? I don’t even know how to use a computer!”

Whether this was the reason his wife’s and his own identity cards were blocked or not, Abdul Majid is unable to claim the compensation the government has offered to those left homeless by the demolition of encroached houses near Gujjar Nullah because of his blocked ID card. As a tailor, he is unable to make ends meet, particularly due to his wife’s illness that requires her to go for dialysis on a regular basis.

“We run around like dogs from one office to another begging for help. Sometimes it hard to believe I live in a Muslim country.”

Some hope in dark times

In July 2021, it was reported in leading newspapers that the ministry had suspended around 39 employees of Nadra for their alleged involvement in issuing fake CNICs in Sindh.

Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan was quick to go on record to refute the claims.

This inquiry came soon after the newly appointed chairman of Nadra, Tariq Malik, took over. Even Sheikh Siraj (of the Action Committee for Pakistani Bengalis) refers to him as “a good man who knows what needs to be done”.

At least 11 directors-general (DGs) were posted to new positions at the Nadra headquarters in Islamabad as a result of a hierarchy reshuffling undertaken by Tariq Malik.

Imkaan Welfare Organisation’s Legal Aid Centre in Machhar Colony has had success in resolving some of the identity card cases. According to Tahera Hasan, it can take 12 to 14 months if the necessary documents such as evidence of being in Pakistan prior to 1978 or old passports or existing ID cards are available.

However, the more complicated cases in which alien cards were forcibly issued or if extra people were added to family trees (fake IDs) can take decades to resolve. Such cases have to go through the Director General’s office before they reach a courtroom and the Sindh Human Rights department helps liaise with the relevant government authorities.

Lost opportunities

Nineteen-year-old Jasheem is a table-tennis champion at Imkaan Welfare Organization’s recreational facility called Khel (“Play”) in Machhar Colony. He aims to compete in international tournaments one day. His father managed to have his ID card renewed after running around for 10 years but Jasheem is fearful the same might happen to him.

“I pray to Allah that my ID card is issued soon. What is the point of getting it when I have lost all crucial opportunities in my life?”

Due to the implementation of the one parent identity card (CNIC) policy a Child Registration Certificate (CRC) can be granted to children. Child Registration Certificates are known as B-forms or proof of a child’s birth.

This is how some members of Khel’s gymnastics team have been able to get their B-forms which made it possible for them to compete in the National Gymnastics Championship for girls in January 2023.

The team won at this event and became national champions. They now dream of competing globally in person, after having won international championships that were held online during the pandemic.

However, this is still not possible for them because despite having B-forms under the one parent policy, the Directorate General of Immigration and Passports has failed to issue them passports as its policy requires both parents to have a CNIC for travel documents to be issued. This stands in contravention to birthright citizenship and the fact that either parent can pass on citizenship to their child under the law.

In 2018, ex-Prime Minister Imran Khan had pledged citizenship for Bengali and Afghan refugees. However, by 2022 Imran Khan was ousted after a no-confidence vote thus ending any hopes of his promises being fulfilled.