The National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Interior met in Islamabad to talk about a big and sensitive issue: migrants and citizenship in Pakistan. They were focusing on the Pakistan Citizenship Bill 2025. Which deals with who should be recognized as citizens and how identity documents should be handled. After long discussion, the committee decided not to pass the bill yet and postponed it. Until they get more input from other government departments and experts.
At the start of the meeting, the committee chair, Raja Khurram Nawaz, listened as officials and lawmakers shared different views. One of the main concerns was about people who came into Pakistan from East Pakistan back in 1971. Though many families moved voluntarily decades ago, many of their descendants now born and raised here still don’t have proper national identity cards. This has created confusion and hardship for those families.
Committee member Qadir Patel pointed out that the migration is still happening today. So,creating clear and fair laws is important to protect people’s rights and avoid future problems.
The Minister of State for Interior, Talal Chaudhry reminded everyone that the committee’s role is to review and suggest changes. But the final decision lies with full of the National Assembly and with political leaders. He urged political parties to talk together and reach a fair agreement, because this topic affects many lives and emotions.
At the same meeting, the committee also passed another bill aimed at helping senior citizens. If approved later by the assembly, people aged sixty and above would get discounts on services without needing a special card. Lawmakers stressed that systems like biometric checks from NADRA sometimes don’t work well for older people, so that should be fixed too.
Overall, the session showed that lawmakers are trying to balance legal details with human concerns especially for families who’ve lived in Pakistan for generations but still struggle with citizenship paperwork.
