NADRA cancels 4.2 million ID cards as part of stronger national database drive

ISLAMABAD – The National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) has completed a major reconciliation exercise on 11 March 2026 between provincial civil registration records and the National Citizen Database under the NADRA Ordinance, 2000 and Rules 16 and 17 of the National Identity Card Rules. The objective of this initiative was to further strengthen the accuracy, integrity and reliability of Pakistan’s national identity system and to ensure that the national database accurately reflects the current status of every citizen. As a result of this exercise, approximately 4.2 million identity cards were cancelled where the holders had already been registered as deceased in the relevant provincial civil registration systems. This milestone significantly improved the quality and integrity of the national database, strengthened consistency across government records, and further reduced the possibility of unauthorized use, fraud, or misuse of the identities of deceased persons. It has also provided the State with a more reliable foundation for demographic analysis, public policy formulation, and service delivery. Despite the scale of this exercise, only 2,374 cases surfaced over the subsequent three months in which an ID card had been cancelled on the basis of a death registration that was later found to require correction. This represents a very small fraction of overall exercise. To facilitate affected citizens, NADRA has established a prompt rectification mechanism under which identity records are restored without delay following a simple biometric verification and necessary checks. Citizens are also informed of the identity of the relative at whose request the death registration had originally been recorded with the concerned Union Council. Under the law, it is the responsibility of the deceased person’s heirs and close relatives to ensure that a death is registered with the relevant Union Council or other authorized civil registration authority. Timely registrati