UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, welcomes the launch today of a country-wide campaign in Pakistan to verify and update the data of some 1.4 million registered Afghan refugees and to issue them with smart identity cards. The last large-scale verification of refugees in the country was undertaken 10 years ago. Registered refugees will be issued new smartcards with the capacity to hold biometric data. These cards, which will be valid for two years, will also be technologically compatible with systems used in Pakistan to authenticate the identities of nationals to access services.

ISLAMABAD, 15 April 2021 – The Government of Pakistan, with the support of UNHCR, has launched a nationwide verification exercise for 1.4 million Afghan refugees during which new smartcards will be issued. The Documentation Renewal and Information Verification Exercise, or DRIVE for short, was inaugurated at a ribbon-cutting ceremony in Islamabad by the Federal Minister for SAFRON, His Excellency Mehboob Sultan. The UNHCR Representative, Noriko Yoshida, and the Chief Commissioner for Afghan Refugees, Saleem Khan, were also present on the occasion. During the six-month exercise, registered Afghan refugees who currently hold Proof of Registration (PoR) cards will be provided with new smartcards.

Document Renewal and Identity Verification Exercise (DRIVE) is taking place across the country. In terms of overall progress, the primary implementation of DRIVE is now approaching 20 per cent and more than a quarter of a million interviews have been completed. To date, a total of 258,815 individuals (49,966 families) have been verified or newly recorded since the launch of DRIVE. A cumulative total of 38,904 PoR cards have been distributed from 34 sites.

National Command Operation Center (NCOC) has warned of the 4th wave of COVID-19 as there is a steady increase in daily cases of COVID-19 positive cases, which was over 1,800 on 12 July as compared to an average less than 1,000 during the first week of July. The positivity rate has also climbed to 4 per cent. Although vaccination is ongoing for all ages above 18, the coverage is still low. Only 4 million people have been fully vaccinated so far.