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e-NIC Hits Another Delay Over Political Disagreements

The rolling out the electronic identity cards has once again been delayed over political disagreements, government sources speaking on condition of anonymity said on Monday, upsetting Afghans who have waited for years for the start of the process.

Previously the ousted governor of Balkh Atta Mohammad Noor had expressed his opposition to the nature of the roll-out process. Noor had criticized the government for not rolling out e-NIC in terms of the law previously approved.

Noor’s disagreement is likely one of the reasons that the roll-out has been delayed, said the source.

Legislators Split on the e-NIC rollout

The rolling out process of e-NIC has also followed major disagreements among the members of Afghan parliament since discussions on the process initially got momentum.

On Monday over 50 members of the parliament called on the parliament chairman to include president Ashraf Ghani’s legislative decree on the issuance of e-NIC on the agenda of the house for further discussions.

This comes a week after Ghani’s second vice president Mohammad Sarwar Danish had promised that the government will soon announce the start of the process. Danish’s remarks followed a similar statement from the minister of communications and information technology in which he said that the government will on Tuesday set the date for the rolling out of electronic identity cards.

Some MPs have meanwhile criticized the recent decision by the joint commission of the parliament for the e-NIC rollout and termed it illegal.

“Based on article 100 of the constitution, if one of the members of the joint commission remains absent, the meeting has no credibility and none of its decisions are legal. So now the decision of the joint committee is illegal,” said Rahila Salim.

“This is totally a fascist and repressive law and it is unacceptable to us. It should be included in the parliamentary agenda to decide on,” said MP Abdul Latif Pedram.

“This law is not in the interests of people, we hope that the presidential palace does not increase the issues facing the people,” said MO Zaheer Saadat.

But other MPs have said that there are no legal issues in the way of rolling out the ID cards

“There have been a lot of discussions around ID cards, there is no need for further discussions,” said MP Lailuma Kakmi.

“If anyone debates the ID cards, he is committing mistake,” said MP Saleh Mohammad Saleh

The census law was approved three years ago. But later Ghani issued a legislative decree in terms of which the terms nationality, religion and ethnicity were also included in the e-NIC.

e-NIC Hits Another Delay Over Political Disagreements

Balkh Atta Mohammad Noor’s disagreement is likely one of the reasons that the roll-out has been delayed, said the source.

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The rolling out the electronic identity cards has once again been delayed over political disagreements, government sources speaking on condition of anonymity said on Monday, upsetting Afghans who have waited for years for the start of the process.

Previously the ousted governor of Balkh Atta Mohammad Noor had expressed his opposition to the nature of the roll-out process. Noor had criticized the government for not rolling out e-NIC in terms of the law previously approved.

Noor’s disagreement is likely one of the reasons that the roll-out has been delayed, said the source.

Legislators Split on the e-NIC rollout

The rolling out process of e-NIC has also followed major disagreements among the members of Afghan parliament since discussions on the process initially got momentum.

On Monday over 50 members of the parliament called on the parliament chairman to include president Ashraf Ghani’s legislative decree on the issuance of e-NIC on the agenda of the house for further discussions.

This comes a week after Ghani’s second vice president Mohammad Sarwar Danish had promised that the government will soon announce the start of the process. Danish’s remarks followed a similar statement from the minister of communications and information technology in which he said that the government will on Tuesday set the date for the rolling out of electronic identity cards.

Some MPs have meanwhile criticized the recent decision by the joint commission of the parliament for the e-NIC rollout and termed it illegal.

“Based on article 100 of the constitution, if one of the members of the joint commission remains absent, the meeting has no credibility and none of its decisions are legal. So now the decision of the joint committee is illegal,” said Rahila Salim.

“This is totally a fascist and repressive law and it is unacceptable to us. It should be included in the parliamentary agenda to decide on,” said MP Abdul Latif Pedram.

“This law is not in the interests of people, we hope that the presidential palace does not increase the issues facing the people,” said MO Zaheer Saadat.

But other MPs have said that there are no legal issues in the way of rolling out the ID cards

“There have been a lot of discussions around ID cards, there is no need for further discussions,” said MP Lailuma Kakmi.

“If anyone debates the ID cards, he is committing mistake,” said MP Saleh Mohammad Saleh

The census law was approved three years ago. But later Ghani issued a legislative decree in terms of which the terms nationality, religion and ethnicity were also included in the e-NIC.

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