ISLAMABAD: The National Database Registration Authority (NADRA) of Pakistan said on Wednesday it introduced a policy earlier this year to allow single mothers to get their children registered without asking them to submit documents of the other parent.

NADRA issued the statement after Thomson Reuters Foundation did a feature piece, “Pakistan’s digital ID card locks out million,” on Tuesday which was published by various media organizations.

The write-up mentioned troubles which were faced by single mothers and other vulnerable groups in the country while getting basic identification documents required to access fundamental services provided by the state.

“NADRA issued a policy in March this year that enabled single mothers to get their children CNIC [computerized national identity cards] conveniently without the father’s CNIC,” the official statement said. “The policy was introduced following the establishment of the Inclusive Registration Department (IRD) in the Authority in July last year. The single mother policy was introduced on the same line that the registration of the destitute, orphans with known/unknown parentage and trans was being carried out by the authority.”

The statement noted that NADRA was mandated to register adult citizens of age 18 and above.

“As per the country’s census 2017, Pakistan has 110 million adult citizens, whereas the estimated increase in population is 2 percent,” it said. “NADRA has registered till date 123 million that makes 97 percent of the total existing adult population.”

The statement also mentioned unregistered Bengalis and other foreign nationals living in Pakistan for several decades, saying it had offered them Alien Registration Card, Alien Work Permit Card and Alien Children Registration.

“With alien registration cards, the non-nationals can avail the rights, benefits or privileges as admissible under NADRA (Alien Registration Card) Rules, 2021,” it continued. “Likewise, NADRA also issues Proof of Registration Card to the Afghan refugees. So far 1.4 million Afghan are registered in this regard.”

The statement informed that NADRA had also launched campaigns to register people belonging to vulnerable groups and done its best to close the existing gender gap while registering people in Pakistan.