ISLAMABAD, Dec 27: National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) Chairman Tariq Malik sent on Friday a letter to the interior secretary brushing aside allegations levelled against him by Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan.
Mr Malik debunked all the allegations, from those relating to his academic qualification, foreign visits, holding of passports, perks and privileges to the issuance of smart identity cards.
Mr Malik was sacked by the government on Dec 2 but reinstated the following day by the Islamabad High Court. But he has since been facing barrages of allegations. Mr Malik was appointed chairman of Nadra on July 17 last year during the PPP government.
Mr Malik said in his letter: “Although the matter of my termination is in the high court, a pack of baseless allegations levelled by the interior minister in a press conference compelled me to reply.”
He said he was a graduate of the Quaid-i-Azam University, like the interior minister. His degree was verified by the University Grants Commission, presently known as the Higher Education Commission. “If it is required the ministry can get verified my education degrees from the HEC,” he said.
About the allegation that he had attended only seminars in Stanford University and Howard University, Mr Malik said he had done special course from there after meeting a strict criterion.
He said he had paid 40 foreign visits and as a result Nadra earned $17.6 million for giving its service to different countries. “However, I was accused of having made more than 150 foreign visits. Some of the visits I paid before joining Nadra have also been put in my post-chairmanship account,” he said.
About the allegation that he holds three passports, Mr Malik said he had only one Pakistani and one Canadian passport, but the interior minister also counted those which had expired.
He said his monthly salary was Rs247,000, but he was accused of drawing Rs735,000. “In 2011-12, I was given Rs1.7 million as allowances and bonuses for my services on different projects of Nadra, but I refused to accept them,” he said.
About the issuance of smart cards, he said that in 2009 it had been decided that Nadra would make smart cards by inserting a chip into “Teslin” identity cards and in 2010 Nadra purchased five million smart cards. However, with an unexpected increase in its demand, Nadra decided to buy 20 million more cards to issue them almost six years down the road and thus the authority saved $440 million.”
He said Nadra followed Public Procurement Regulatory Authority rules while purchasing smart cards.