Islamabad (Zahid Yaqoob Khawaja): Under the relevant laws of Pakistan, National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) issues identity documents for a specified period, and it is the legal responsibility of every adult citizen to ensure the timely renewal of their identity documents, particularly the National Identity Card, before their expiry. Failing this, essential services linked to these documents including bank accounts, mobile phone SIMs, and other verification-based services may be adversely affected or suspended.

Furthermore, citizens whose identity cards have expired may not be able to avail themselves of various government and welfare programmes, such as the Benazir Income Support Programme, government subsidy schemes including the recently announced fuel subsidy scheme, as well as transactions like property and vehicle transfers. This results in unnecessary hardship for citizens due to their own oversight. Although NADRA is legally empowered to impose additional fees or penalties for delayed renewal, such measures have not yet been implemented in consideration of public convenience.

According to available data from NADRA, at present 27.475 million National Identity Cards, 2.309 million Overseas Cards, 11.65 million Child Registration Certificates, and 0.229 million Juvenile Cards have expired, and citizens have not renewed them. In this regard, reminder messages have already been sent to citizens via SMS by NADRA, including specifically those parents whose children have reached the age of 18 but have not yet obtained their first National Identity Card.

Moreover, as per the public advisory issued by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority on 8 April 2026, it is mandatory for users to have a valid and active identity card to ensure continuity of mobile services. SIMs registered against identity cards that have expired or are in the name of deceased individuals may be blocked at any time.

Currently, over 8.1 million SIMs are active against approximately 4.5 million identity cards that require renewal. Of these, more than 223,000 identity cards have been expired for over ten years without renewal. Therefore, citizens are advised to ensure the timely renewal of their identity cards to maintain uninterrupted mobile services. Additionally, approximately 1.5 million SIMs that are still registered in the names of deceased relatives should be transferred to their own CNIC and names by their current users.

All citizens are requested to fulfil their legal responsibility by promptly renewing expired identity documents and ensuring the issuance of identity cards for individuals who have attained the age of 18. For this purpose, citizens may visit their nearest registration centres or avail services through the Pak-ID mobile application or NADRA e-Sahulat franchises. If no improvement is observed in the trends of document renewal, additional fees and penalties may be imposed in the next fiscal year after June on those citizens who delay obtaining or renewing their identity documents.