- PROVINCE
- Sindh
- DIVISION
- Karachi DivisionDigit 2 of the prefix — 2
- DISTRICT
- Karachi Central District
- LOCAL ZONE
- Karachi Central — Nazimabad / North Nazimabad beltDigits 4–5 of the prefix — 01
- TEHSILS
- 5Liaquatabad · Nazimabad · North Nazimabad · Gulberg · New Karachi
What 42401 tells you
A Pakistani CNIC is thirteen digits long, and the first five of them are not random. They are a location record, written at the moment the card was registered. A card whose number opens with 42401 was registered in Karachi Central District, Sindh, in Karachi Division.
Reading it left to right: 4 is the province digit and is definitive — 4 always means Sindh. 2 selects the division inside that province, here Karachi Division. 4 selects the district inside that division, which gives us Karachi Central. The final pair, 01, is a local registration zone — roughly union-council level, recorded in this register as Karachi Central — Nazimabad / North Nazimabad belt.
TEHSILS OF KARACHI CENTRAL
Karachi Central District is divided into 5 administrative tehsils. NADRA’s internal registration zones do not map one-to-one onto tehsil boundaries, so treat this as the administrative picture rather than a decoder for digits four and five.
| # | Tehsil | District | Province |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Liaquatabad | Karachi Central | Sindh |
| 2 | Nazimabad | Karachi Central | Sindh |
| 3 | North Nazimabad | Karachi Central | Sindh |
| 4 | Gulberg | Karachi Central | Sindh |
| 5 | New Karachi | Karachi Central | Sindh |
DOCUMENTED LOCAL ZONES UNDER 424
These are the five-digit codes this register can name for Karachi Central District. Codes not listed here still exist — NADRA has simply never published the full zone table.
OTHER DISTRICTS IN KARACHI DIVISION
COMMON QUESTIONS
Which district is CNIC code 42401?
42401 belongs to Karachi Central District in Sindh, within Karachi Division.
The first three digits (424) identify the district; the last two (01) identify a local registration zone inside it — recorded here as Karachi Central — Nazimabad / North Nazimabad belt.
Does a 42401 CNIC mean the holder lives in Karachi Central?
No. The regional prefix records where the card was registered with NADRA, not where the holder lives now. People who move, or who register at a family address, keep the original prefix.
It is also not proof of domicile. Domicile is a separate certificate issued by the district administration.
Which tehsils fall under Karachi Central District?
Karachi Central District covers 5 administrative tehsils: Liaquatabad, Nazimabad, North Nazimabad, Gulberg, New Karachi.
Tehsil boundaries and NADRA's internal registration zones are not the same thing, so the last two digits of a CNIC do not map one-to-one onto this list.
How reliable is the code 42401?
42401 is reconstructed from the standard coding scheme and community lists rather than an official published table. The province digit is definitive; the district mapping should be treated as a strong indication rather than a guarantee.
NADRA has never released a complete district-to-prefix table, which is why this register marks every entry as either a documented anchor or a derived code.
KEEP LOOKING
Sources. Administrative data adapted from Wikipedia (CNIC, Administrative units of Pakistan, Districts of Pakistan) under CC BY-SA 4.0, with changes; prefix mapping cross-checked against public administrative and community-compiled lists. Reviewed 2026-09-02. Full sources, accuracy and ethics. Unofficial reference — not affiliated with NADRA, and not proof of identity or domicile.