On Wednesday, the Lahore High Court’s Rawalpindi Bench delayed the hearing of Chaiwala’s citizenship case. He had filed the petition to challenge the blocking of his national identity card (CNIC) and passport. Justice Jawad Hassan postponed the case until April 22 after Khan’s lawyer asked for more time to prepare a reply.
During the hearing, lawyers representing the assistant attorney general and NADRA submitted written reports to the court. These reports showed that NADRA had asked for investigations from two intelligence agencies — Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and the Intelligence Bureau (IB).
According to both ISI and IB, Arshad Khan is an Afghan national. The reports said he was born and raised in Afghanistan and had no legal connection to Pakistani citizenship. They clearly stated, “No foreign national is entitled to hold or benefit from Pakistani identity documents such as a CNIC or passport.”
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NADRA told the court that Khan was asked to prove his presence, birth, residence or property ownership in Pakistan before 1978. He failed to provide such evidence. Based on this, NADRA stood by its decision to cancel his CNIC and passport. It also mentioned that a legal notice had been sent to Khan, ordering him to leave Pakistan.
Khan’s lawyer asked for copies of the intelligence agency reports and NADRA’s written reply. The court accepted the request for more time and instructed that final arguments should be presented during the next hearing on April 22.
In his petition, Arshad Khan said he had worked as a tea seller in Islamabad. He claimed that cancelling his identity documents had damaged his reputation. He suggested the court to declare him a Pakistani citizen and restore his CNIC and passport on chaiwala’s citizenship case.
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