Pakistan is host to a large  number of stateless persons, including those from Bengali, Bihari and Rohingya communities, mainly concentrated in the metropolitan city of Karachi. Individuals are either stateless or at risk of statelessness due to unresolved nationality issues. As access to basic services, including healthcare and education, in Pakistan is increasingly dependent on the possession of a computerized identity card as proof of Pakistani nationality, the situation faced by stateless communities is particularly challenging.

Pakistan is not a party to the 1954 and 1961 Statelessness Conventions nor does it have its own specific national legislation/mechanism to address statelessness. Therefore, stateless persons remain unidentified and their protection needs unattended. However, there is legislation in Pakistan that clearly identifies the routes to obtaining Pakistani citizenship. These include citizenship by birth, descent, marriage, and naturalization. The gap between the existing law and its implementation results in statelessness being perpetuated and citizenship rights being compromised.

Statelessness traps people in poverty cycles and affects multiple generations. As a result of stateless communities being invisible to the state, they are often neglected by development actors and processes. . A lack of identity is the cause for most of the following issues:

• Difficulty accessing education and healthcare;
• Lack of work potential and employment opportunities;
• Lack of opportunities to own or register a business;
• Restricted property rights;
• Limited access to a bank account or a loan;
• Threat of extortion, detention or expulsion;