Salam. I am Punjabi from Pakistan. Writing about a girl I know.
She is Afghan by family but she was born in Pakistan and grew up here her whole life. She has never been to Afghanistan.
Background so this makes sense outside Pakistan:
In Pakistan your national ID card is called a CNIC. Without it you cannot keep a phone number, use a bank account properly, rent, study, or travel legally. The government office that issues and cancels these IDs is called NADRA.
Her father got Pakistani citizenship in the 80s. NADRA is not accepting that paperwork now. In the recent Afghan deportation campaign their family CNICs were cancelled. She is effectively identity less. Bank and phone SIM are stuck.
Going to Afghanistan is not okay for her. She has no life there. Under the current situation for women and girls, education ends and she would be stuck at home with almost no rights.
Even going to a NADRA office to fix papers is risky. Those offices can get raided and people get deported on the spot.
I am not looking for any shady path. Just real advice.
Questions:
- Can a lawyer fight to restore the CNIC or citizenship using the fathers 80s documents?
- Does UNHCR or any human rights or women rights group actually take cases of people born in Pakistan who became identity less like this?
- Are there any real third country options (Canada or elsewhere) for a young woman stuck with no valid ID?
Only reply if you know something real. Please no politics. Thanks.