National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) has cancelled 4.2 million Computerized National Identity Cards (CNICs) belonging to individuals who were already recorded as deceased in provincial civil registration systems.
According to the authority, the move came after identifying cases where families had registered deaths with local civil authorities, but the CNICs of those individuals remained active in the national database.
Officials said the discrepancy created inconsistencies between provincial death records and NADRA’s central identity database. After verifying the records through civil registration data, NADRA cancelled the relevant identity cards to prevent potential misuse of identity documents belonging to deceased persons.
The authority explained that the step was taken to improve the accuracy, transparency, and security of Pakistan’s national identity database and reduce the risk of fraud involving inactive or misused CNICs.
However, NADRA acknowledged that in rare cases a person may be mistakenly declared deceased, either due to reporting errors or deliberate misreporting by relatives.
In such situations, affected citizens can visit the nearest NADRA registration centre where their CNIC will be restored after biometric verification.
NADRA also clarified that no fee will be charged for restoring identity cards that were cancelled due to an incorrect death declaration.
