Claim: An Urdu news website published an article with the headline, “How many lives have been lost due to the presence of residential addresses on identity cards. Is the ID card going to change?”
Fact: The news headline is misleading as it suggests some change to the National Identity Card (NIC) is impending, when this is in fact not the case. A resolution to keep residential addresses hidden on NICs was presented by Mr. Kheeal Das Kohistani (member of the National Assembly of Pakistan for the PML-N) on 17 September 2021 but no further action was taken.
On 1 January 2022, Urdu news website Newsbead.com published a news article regarding Kohistani’s National Assembly resolution which was originally presented in September 2021. The same report with the same headline was also published here on 2 January 2022 and here on 24 September 2021.
Soch Fact Check traced the news back to UrduPoint, which first reported the story on 23 September 2021 with a more accurate headline. The residential address listed on the ID card should be kept secret – Kheal Das Kohistani.”
To investigate the authenticity of the news, Soch Fact Check spoke to Mr. Kohistani who confirmed that a resolution was indeed presented in the National Assembly to keep residential addresses hidden on NICs. He further elaborated that the resolution was presented in response to public demand. However, Kohistani confirmed that no further action has been taken by the Government or National Assembly — in particular, the resolution has not yet been tabled by the National Assembly. The original image of the resolution can be seen below:
The news headline “How many lives have been lost due to the presence of residential addresses on identity cards. Is the ID card going to change?” is misleading as it suggests a change is impending when no further action has been taken since September 2021. Further, the resolution was passed in September 2021 but the news is being reposted on different media sites in January 2022 to attract more views.
Conclusion: The National Identity Card is not likely to change in the foreseeable future. News reports suggesting otherwise are misleading. If a resolution regarding hiding residential addresses on NICs is tabled in the near future, a lengthy debate is likely to take place before any changes are finalized.