(Forwarded email)

Alexander the Great is known as the most powerful military leader and
conqueror of the ancient world. Before he turned 30 years old he
conquered an empire stretching over 3,000 miles from Greece to India.
He was born in 356 BC in Macedonia, known today as northern Greece.

On his sickbed and during his last hour alive, Alexander the Great
told his generals "After my death, when you put my body in the casket,
let my arms hang over the edges with my palms wide open, so the public
can see my empty hands while I am leaving the world." After he died,
many dignitaries came to view the royal funeral and were very
surprised to see his arms hanging over the edge of the casket with his
palms wide open. They asked questions about this unique scene. A wise
man told them "O People, Alexander the Great is telling us that when
he ruled the world, great treasures of gold, silver and wealth came to
be under his possession. Yet, indeed he is leaving the world empty
handed."

Source: Partially extracted from the writtings of JC Pinkerton.

Anas bin Malik, may Allah be pleased with him, reported: Allah's
Messenger (may peace be upon him) said: Three things follow the bier
of a dead man, two of them come back and one is left with him: the
members of his family, wealth and his good deeds. The members of his
family and wealth come back while his deeds alone are left with him.
(Sahih Muslim)

By Sarang

Summary:

I am sure most of you from Pakistan already know that the Computerized National Identity Card (CNIC) issued by Nadra on behalf of Government of Pakistan has an expiry date. If you didn't know this then i think you have never looked at your ID card carefully.

There is another thing that only a few know about CNIC... only those whose CNIC verification has been denied at the passport office, a bank, mobile SIM activation, at the airport etc. This is the mysterious SI block of the CNIC card. You find out about it when you need your CNIC the most. For example you are preparing for international travel and you urgently apply for your passport only to find out that it cannot happen until your SI block is removed by Nadra.

SI block is caused when any discrepancy is found in your data or your family tree. For example if the system finds that the CNIC number of the family head (Mother or Father) is missing or invalid in your data then this will cause an SI block. In case of a married person the CNIC of the spouse must also be submitted. Submitting the CNIC of siblings is generally optional however it become mandatory for the unmarried people whose parents are deceased and did not have CNIC. Whatever the reason maybe the bottom line is that you need to go to Nadra office and get the issue resolved. This will be done free of cost at any Nadra Swift Registration Center (NSRC).

I would strongly recommend all of you out there not to wait for someone else to tell you about the SI block of your card. Call up the Nadra helpline right now and ask them about the status of your CNIC card. It will save you a lot of frustration later when you actually need the CNIC.

My Story:

A few months back my ID card got expired and i didnt pay much attention to it. I was of the view that no one bothers about the expiry date of the ID card and i don't need to waste my time and stand in lines for renewal. I also had this at the back of my head that i hardly ever need my ID card and the places i have used it before no one ever looked at the expiry date. So the bottom line is i didn't bother about it.

So time went by like this until a couple of months back when i urgently needed to open a new back account. I was quite shocked to find out that my application cannot be processed because my CNIC has expired. I tried arguing with the bank manager but his answer was that he is just following the instruction from State Bank of Pakistan. New account cannot be opened without CNIC verification and since my CNIC was expired so it will not work.

Since i was left with no other option therefore i went to the NSRC. I later realized that the word "swift" was a misfit in the name, it was far from being swift. There was a long queue outside for the token to get inside. After waiting for a painful hour finally i payed the fee for URGENT renewal processing and got the token. Let me tell you over here that you can apply for normal process or urgent. According to Nadra the normal process takes 4 weeks whereas the urgent one takes 2 weeks.

I entered the crowded office and started waiting for my token number to appear on one of the digital counters. To cut the story short i went through the following steps:
Counter#1: Got my picture taken
Counter#2. Gave my signature sample and finger prints.
Counter#3: Misc data entry. The man at the counter asked different questions which i answered.
Counter#4: Was shown a print out of my data.

I come home after this and started waiting for 15th day. I called for the status after 15days and i was told that it is still in processing!

I was told by a friend that there is something called SI blockage due to which the cards can be delayed so i should call and confirm that this is not the case. I called back on 26th day of application and asked whether my card was SI blocked. I was told that it was not blocked and that the verification was cleared a day earlier. I was also informed that i will get my card within a week now.

I called again on 30th data (one month after the date of application). This time to my utmost surprise i was told that my card has SI block and i cannot get it until i get that resolved.

I needed my card urgently so I wanted to go and do the required processing as soon as possible. I took early off from my office and I went to the NSRC the same day thinking that it would be a few minutes fix but i was disappointed to know that i have to go through the whole process again. I had to spend more than an hour to redo all the process that was done only a month back.. counter #1, #2, #3.

At the end of that frustrating ordeal at counter#4 i was handed over a printout of my data and asked to get it attested! My jaw dropped! And a few involuntary slangs started coming out of my mouth (which i am not quite proud of). It will take me another few days to get it attested and submit it.

So my story continues... I hope it has a happy ending. For you all out there i would strongly advise to check the status of your CNIC card and make sure that it is not SI block for any reason.


Sarang Recommends:
- When are they coming for you?
- Extracts of speech by Hafez A.B Mohamed