HRCP organises policy consultation meeting on itinerant people citizenship challenges in KP

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Deputy speaker Mahmood Jan announces a working group of lawmakers to address challenges being faced by itinerant community in acquiring citizenship documents in KP
JAVED KHAN
PESHAWAR
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) organised the first policy consultation meeting in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), focusing on challenges being faced by itinerant people in access to citizenship.
The ‘Policy consultation on access to citizenship during the Covid-19 crisis’ was attended by the deputy speaker of KP assembly Mahmood Jan, Minister for Labour, Culture and Human Rights, Shaukat Yousifzia, woman MPA and member of CACUS Aisha Bano, and MPAs from opposition parties.
Mahvish Niaz, a representative of HRCP while sharing study findings on “Policy consultation on access to citizenship during the Covid-19 crisis” said that an estimated 15 million itinerant people in Pakistan faced with the challenge of accessing citizenship documents and government relief.
In her presentation she revealed that almost all members of the ‘Kuchi’ community have no access to labour protection mechanisms such as those determining a minimum wage, terms of employment and occupational safety due to non-availability of a computerized national identity card (CNIC).
The deputy speaker Mahmood Jan while sharing its views in the consultation policy meeting said that members of KP assembly will take all necessary steps to devise a mechanism for initiating a process of legislation to end the vulnerability of Kuchi-community in the province.
He said that a working group would be established to work on the issue and present its recommendations for implementation, adding working group of the assembly will lead by MPA Aisha Bano.
Shaukat Yousafzai, minister for law and human rights on the occasion said that a door-to-door campaign would support this initiative and that nomadic labour group must be mainstreamed.
MPA-PML-N Ikhtiar Wali pledged to work closely with the working group and ensure that KP’s nomadic communities were given citizenship rights.
Ayesha Bano, who is also a member of the women’s parliamentarian CACUS, recommended the option of issuing a special ‘khana badosh’ card to such communities.
Sharing research recommendations on access to citizenship Mehvish Niaz said that application requirements for citizenship documents need to be reviewed.
NADRA should carry out local door-to-door registration drives for itinerant workers and use mobile connectivity to make a simplified online process available to marginalised itinerant workers she added.
Mehvish said that registration for women and children—in cases where families cannot provide documentation for a deceased male family member—should be simplified.