Pakistan’s digital ID card locks out millions

Labourers carry produce as they wade through a flooded road after heavy rainfall, in Lahore, Pakistan. Many adults still don’t have the NADRA agency's CNIC card, excluding them from jobs and vital public services. — AP

LAHORE: After three years of repeated attempts to get her digital national identity card, Rubina – a woman from the Pakistani city of Karachi – decided to take her battle to court, winning a landmark victory.

Until then, Pakistanis had not been able to get the Computerized National Identity Card (CNIC) unless they presented their father’s ID card – an impossibility for many people, including those like Rubina who were raised by single mothers.