ISLAMABAD – The National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) is planning to reduce the size of computerized national identity cards (CNICs) number from 13 digits to four only.
The plan was revealed by Nadram Chairman Tariq Malik while addressing the National Data Privacy Conference in Islamabad here the other day.
Working is also underway to give citizens a right to get record of people accessing their data, he said. “If a bank or FBR access their data, they will get information,” Malik said.
He further said that no one will be allowed to establish a mini data bank of customers.
The 13-digit number verifies a person’s Pakistani citizenship and there is a secret behind every digit. This 13-digit number is entirely different for every citizen.
This number comprises three parts. The first part, which comprises five digits i.e. ‘35201’, has its first digit ‘3’ identifying citizens’ province. People whose CNIC number starts with 1, are residents of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, similarly, 3 for Punjab, 4 for Sindh, 5 represents Balochistan, 6 for Islamabad and 7 represents Gilgit-Baltistan province.
The second or middle part of the CNIC number represents a code for the family number of a citizen.
The third part, which has only one digit following a hyphen, represents sex of a person. For a man, odd digits i.e. 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 are used, while even digits i.e. 2, 4, 6, 8 are used for women.
