Pakistan to modernize identity system, Digital Authority creating DPI sub-stacks

Pakistan’s National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) has introduced new regulations that overhaul its national identity system.

The reforms address key areas of the national identity ecosystem, including verification and cancellation procedures, the National Identity Card (NIC) framework, Pakistan Origin Card (POC) rules and the organization’s procurement regime.

Under the new Verification Regulations, NADRA has created a formal process for scrutinizing suspicious identity records and established Verification Boards empowered to conduct inquiries, hold hearings and issue final decisions. These procedures are aimed at improving the integrity of the national database.

Amendments to NIC regulations update core definitions, streamline service delivery, and introduce protocols for securely disposing of obsolete or undelivered cards. The rules also set out procedures for handling cases involving multiple CNICs and outline requirements for registering orphanages and child protection institutions.

Revised POC regulations clarify eligibility for overseas Pakistanis and individuals of Pakistani origin, detailing documentation needed to verify lineage and the rights granted to cardholders during visits to Pakistan.

NADRA has now notified its Procurement Regulations 2025, aligning purchasing processes with national transparency standards and mandating competitive, auditable procedures — particularly for ICT and security-related acquisitions.

A NADRA spokesperson said the reforms represent a significant step in modernizing the Authority’s operational and legal foundations and reinforce its commitment to secure, citizen-focused services.

Pakistan seeks to build robust digital government foundations

Founding Chair of the Pakistan Digital Authority, Dr Sohail Munir, gave an interview to GovInsider where he spoke more on the PDA’s ambitions.

The PDA is an autonomous body established following the enactment of the Digital Nation Pakistan Act, 2025. Under Section 6 of the Act, the PDA is legally constituted as the central institution charged with operationalizing the country’s digital vision.

It was formed due to the fragmented nature of prior digital initiatives and to bring the coherence needed to lead digital transformation at scale. That’s according to a statement released on the official PDA X account.

Munir, who previously helped build major digital government platforms in the UAE, says the PDA is pursuing a dual strategy of laying strong digital foundations while promoting agility across the civil service.

A central pillar is a Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI)-first policy, ensuring all ministries use shared national building blocks — digital ID, payments and data exchange — rather than creating siloed systems.

The PDA is also developing sector-specific DPI sub-stacks, such as health IDs and education records, to enable provinces, private companies and startups to innovate on common infrastructure.

He noted Pakistan has a major advantage. “A significant value that Pakistan brings to the table is that we have a very large developer community,” he told GovInsider. “Having access to that talent pool, we are going to focus on creating the sub-stack components and to collaborate with other countries to make it available to others.”

Drawing on lessons from 30 countries, the PDA emphasizes codified, whole-of-government architecture over ad hoc projects. Influences include Estonia and Singapore for enterprise architecture, the UAE for seamless citizen experience, and the UK for digital governance. A national digital masterplan now guides this transformation.

Munir believes Pakistan must shift from a control-oriented bureaucracy to a citizen-centric, data-driven government. Civil servants should become “systems stewards” and “data interpreters.” Innovation and design groups are being rolled out across sectors, including the judiciary, to redesign processes and modernize regulation.

He stresses that Pakistan’s scale, diversity and federal structure mean global models must be adapted, not copied. Key challenges include restoring hope among young people amid high unemployment and managing both the opportunities and risks of AI.

The government aims to launch its first AI use cases in the Prime Minister’s Office by March, while also developing safeguards. The PDA seeks to empower the private sector and youth to build the digital economy, while positioning data as a national asset that must be protected and used for public benefit.

Pakistan looks to replicate successes of Estonia, Singapore, UAE, Australia

In a piece for Tribune, Mohsin Saleem Ullah argues that Pakistan’s newly drafted Digital ID Regulations 2025 and National Data Exchange Layer (NDEL) Regulations 2025 mark a turning point in the country’s digital transformation.

Ullah is a legal consultant under the World Bank–funded Digital Economy Enhancement Project (DEEP) and helped to author the aforementioned regulations.

He describes the frameworks as the world’s first comprehensive legal regimes governing both a national digital identity system and the data‑sharing infrastructure that underpins it.

He writes that Pakistan now needs a secure, interoperable and citizen‑centered digital ID to achieve financial inclusion, efficient public services and data‑driven governance. The new digital ID, designed by NADRA, will act as a single authoritative source of identity and will be accessible through the PAK ID mobile app, enabling paperless verification for everything from licences to education records.

Its design also accommodates people with low digital literacy or limited connectivity through simple offline authentication. Ullah mentions Estonia’s e‑ID, Singapore’s SingPass, the UAE’s face biometric‑enabled ID and Australia’s myGovID as proof that strong digital identity frameworks reduce fraud, build trust and streamline national services.

Pakistan’s NDEL, he explains, will serve as the secure backbone for real‑time, consent‑based data exchange across public and private sectors, replacing today’s fragmented databases with a unified, transparent architecture.

A new Trust Framework will set standards for privacy, consent, interoperability and cybersecurity, which will embed principles like data minimization and purpose limitation. Together, he argues, Digital ID and NDEL lay the foundations for digital sovereignty, public trust and a reimagined relationship between citizens, businesses and the state.

Article Topics

data exchange platform  |  Digital Economy Enhancement Project (DEEP)  |  digital ID  |  Digital Pakistan  |  digital public infrastructure  |  identity management  |  NADRA  |  Pakistan  |  Pakistan Digital Authority