PESHAWAR:
A lack of awareness about the legal formalities after the death of an individual means that family members often do not know that a death certificate needs to be registered and by the time they are informed of the process, they have to seek the courts’ indulgence.
Mustaq Ahmed, a resident of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s (K-P) provincial capital is currently going through a similar predicament. The 45-year-old, whose father passed away a few years back, found out that his father’s death had never been registered when he got embroiled in a dispute over land.
“Not having my father’s death certificate has put me on the losing end in this property dispute. Now I have to go through the lengthy process of getting a court to recognise my father’s death and issue directions to the relevant departments before I can claim the land,” an irate Ahmed informed. However, Ahmed is not alone in this plight. Fazli Wahab Safi, Chairman Union Council Shaheed Abad, Peshawar, while talking to the Express Tribune, said that people have no awareness about the registration or acquisition of a death certificate.
“Hence, they will go decades before they are told that this is a legal formality that needs to be done as soon as their loved one passes away.”Safi further informed that the absence of a registered death in a family tree in National Database and Registration Authority’s (NADRA) records means that the authority will neither issue new or re-new identity cards for members of the family tree nor would anyone in the family be able to sign up for welfare programmes like the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP). Muhamad Ilyas, Secretary of the Neighbourhood Council NC-27, Peshawar, concurring with Safi, opined that often people avoid registering deaths thinking that it is a strenuous procedure.
“However, it is fairly simple. Any blood relative can apply for the death certificate; they just have to add a copy of their CNIC, a copy of the deceased’s CNIC, state on the form the cause of death, place of burial, and bring forth witnesses to the death,” explained Ilyas. “Despite the easy process, people avoid registering deaths and then end up in court years later, only increasing their worries.”
The Express Tribune contacted various NADRA officials to ask as to why the authority has failed to spread awareness regarding the importance of the documents and encouraging people to get a death certificate immediately but they declined to comment stating that they were not entitled to speak to the media regarding the issue.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 2nd, 2023.
Source link: https://tribune.com.pk/story/2428854/awareness-regarding-death-certificate-registration-missing