To address the problem of married Hindu women facing difficulty obtaining identity cards, Pakistan eases regulations.
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Pakistan has eased regulations for issuing national identity cards for married Hindu women, who had been facing problems in obtaining them in the absence of a law to register marriages of the minority community.
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The National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) has inserted a new provision in the application for the national identity cards whereby a married Hindu woman is required to submit only an affidavit as proof of marriage.
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The provision was added on the directions of the Supreme Court, which had asked NADRA to amend its rules for issuing national identity cards to Hindu women.
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The amended application form for the identity cards was introduced on Wednesday and a formal notification was issued by authorities, officials said.
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In the absence of a law to register Hindu marriages, women from the minority community had been facing problems in obtaining identity cards as they were unable to provide proof of their marriage.
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According to the notification, the affidavit submitted by a Hindu woman should have her husband's name and be countersigned by him.
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No further proof of marriage will be sought from applicants.
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Officials said the move by NADRA would ease the processing of applications from the Hindu community.
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The federal government is also working on the draft of a bill to register Hindu marriages.
