2 Rohingyas allegedly obtained NIDs using forged documents in Netrokona

Allegations have surfaced again over the fraudulent issuance of Bangladeshi National Identity Cards (NIDs) to two Rohingya nationals through the Kalmakanda Upazila Election Office in Netrokona.

The NIDs were allegedly issued to Nur Halima and Mujibur Rahman by falsely identifying them as residents of Shantinagar village in Rongchhati union of the upazila.

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According to sources, Nur Halima received her NID on August 11. Meanwhile, all information relating to Mujibur Rahman, under file number 121150791, was uploaded to the Election Commission server, but issuance of his NID was withheld after the matter came to light.

A confidential source at the election office said the documents of the two individuals were uploaded to the server at 9:45pm on August 11 using the Kalmakanda Upazila Election Office's user ID. Although uploading data at night is against office rules, only the documents of these two individuals were uploaded during that period, the source said.

Nur Halima's NID identifies Omar Ali and his wife Sharifa Khatun of Shantinagar village as her parents.

However, during a visit to the village, Omar Ali said none of his two sons or two daughters is named Nur Halima. He said election office officials recently visited him and obtained a written statement confirming that he has no daughter by that name.

His son, Shamim Mia, expressed anger over the matter, saying they had no sister named Nur Halima and could not understand how their parents' NID information had been used to establish such an identity.

Javed Mia, another resident of the village, alleged that it would not have been possible to prepare the NIDs without the knowledge of the relevant officials and without proper verification of documents, including birth and citizenship certificates.

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A person familiar with the matter, seeking anonymity, alleged that the NIDs were obtained through local brokers in exchange for a large sum of money.

According to the source, under the standard process, a computer operator scans and stores applicant information before the upazila election officer gives final approval. However, irregularities allegedly occurred at every stage of the process.

Contacted, Kalmakanda Upazila Election Officer Md Zillur Rahman said he was unaware of the matter, claiming that verifying the details of a large number of applicants was difficult.

Asked to produce the documents related to the NID processing, he was unable to do so immediately and said the files could not be located even after a week.

He later acknowledged that a local inquiry had found the information used to obtain the NIDs to be false, confirming that the identity cards had been created using forged information.

He added that higher authorities had been informed and that an internal investigation was underway.

District Election Officer Mohammad Tofael Hossain said an inquiry was underway to determine why such incidents continued to occur at the Kalmakanda office.

He warned that the entire office would be overhauled and that nobody found responsible would be spared from punishment.

Earlier, on July 20, three outsourced employees of the Kalmakanda Upazila Election Office were dismissed and the then upazila election officer was transferred over the issuance of NIDs to Rohingya nationals.