Alhamdulillah: ‘Chaiwala’ Arshad Khan’s Pakistani ID Restored, Lawyer Says
Assalamu alaikum. Just saw that Arshad Khan, the man known to many as “Chaiwala,” has had his national identity card unblocked after authorities confirmed his Pakistani citizenship, his lawyer said on Monday.
KARACHI: Arshad Khan, who became widely known in 2016 when a photo of him pouring tea went viral, had asked the Lahore High Court earlier this year to unblock his passport and CNIC amid fears of deportation during the government’s drive to repatriate undocumented Afghans. The court took notice in April and that prompted a formal review of his records.
The campaign to repatriate undocumented foreigners has been strong recently, with over 800,000 Afghans reportedly sent back since 2023. That crackdown raised worries among ethnic minorities and families living across the border who were accused of holding invalid papers. Khan’s documents were blocked in 2017 after a media rumor said he was Afghan.
“Today we told the court that Arshad Khan’s computerized national identity card has been unblocked,” Umer Ijaz Gilani, Khan’s lawyer, told reporters.
Gilani said the matter was escalated to senior officials after the court’s April notice. A NADRA verification panel checked Khan’s family records, including old identification papers, and confirmed he is a Pakistani citizen, so his CNIC was restored. The lawyer said the court then disposed of their constitutional petition.
He added that the documents had been “mistakenly blocked” back in 2017 because of a false TV report alleging Khan was Afghan.
A High Court order earlier this year even referred to him as “globally known as Arshad Khan Chaiwala” and noted that the fake report had put his future livelihood and business at risk.
Khan now intends, inshAllah, to renew his passport and restart international travel for his Café Chai Wala brand, which has outlets in Pakistan and the UK, his lawyer said.
May Allah make things easy for him.
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