NADRA restores ID card of Arshad Khan ‘Chaiwala’

ISLAMABAD: Arshad Khan, the tea seller who rose to international fame in 2016 for his striking blue eyes after being photographed as the “Chaiwala”, has officially been recognised as a Pakistani citizen, with his national identity card reinstated.

According to Arab News, Khan’s lawyer Umer Ijaz Gilani informed the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Monday that the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) had unblocked his client’s Computerised National Identity Card (CNIC).

“Today, we informed the court that the computerized national identity card of Arshad Khan, commonly known as Chaiwala, has been unblocked,” Gilani said, noting that the matter was resolved after being taken up at the highest government level following the court’s notice in April.

A NADRA verification board reviewed Khan’s family records — including decades-old identification documents — and confirmed his Pakistani citizenship. Following this, NADRA restored his CNIC, and the LHC disposed of the constitutional petition after the authority’s confirmation.

Khan’s documents were mistakenly blocked in 2017 after a television report falsely claimed he was an Afghan national.

The issue gained renewed relevance amid Pakistan’s ongoing campaign to deport undocumented Afghan nationals, which has seen the repatriation of more than 800,000 Afghans since 2023.

The Lahore High Court had earlier taken notice of Khan’s plea seeking restoration of his ID and passport.

After verification, Khan’s citizenship was reaffirmed, allowing him to renew his passport and resume international travel under his brand “Café Chaiwala,” which operates in both Pakistan and the United Kingdom.

In an earlier interview with BBC Urdu, Khan shared that his ancestors migrated from Afghanistan to Pakistan before the 1970s, and that he and his siblings were all born in Islamabad.

He said his father obtained a Pakistani ID card in 1984 and later worked in Saudi Arabia using a Pakistani passport.

“Both my stepmother and biological mother are Pakistani Pashtuns,” Khan said, adding that his maternal family all hold Pakistani IDs — the only exception being his mother, who never applied for one due to cultural norms at the time.