Zardari to be ‘father of all Pakistani kids having unknown parentage’

Jun 15, 2011 |

Islamabad

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Asif Ali Zardari

Asif Ali Zardari_AFP.jpg.crop_display.jpg

Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has asked the National Database Registration Authority (Nadra) to use his name in the father’s name box for all Pakistani children who were born legally, but their parentage is unknown.

“Nadra is issuing identity cards to thousands of children with unknown parentage,” The Nation quoted Chairman Malik Tarek, as saying.

A large number of such children landed in the welfare centres after they lost their parents in the 2005 earthquake and the catastrophic flood in 2010, he added.

He pointed out that Nadra was at a loss to fill the registration forms for such children, as it was mandatory to mention the name of the father and mother of every kid.

“When it came to the knowledge of President Zardari, he voluntarily offered his name to be used in the father’s name box for such people,” Tarek revealed.

“I want you to make a strategy to make thousands of children with unknown parentage a responsible citizen of the state. Nadra can mention my name as father of all such children to issue them identity cards,” he quoted Zardari as saying.

Dealing with the sensitive and a complex issue of ‘children with unknown parentage’, Nadra approached different schools of thoughts from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to Iran, who suggested ‘mentioning Adam and Hawa’ as the father and mother of such children.

“We took fatwa from leading Islamic institutions and scholars of Saudi Arabia and Iran to deal with the issue,” the Nadra chairman said.

“In consultation with Abdus Sattar Edhi [Edhi Foundation chief] and Begum Inayatullah [social worker], we decided to process each case individually. Also, we have agreed to use the institution (where the children are stationed) as their guardian,” he added.

According to sources, there have been a large number of cases in which the children, whose origin was unknown, were converted to Christianity by Christian missionaries in Pakistan, and later on adopted by US and Canadian nationals.

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