H1B - Indian Citizen, re-stamp in Karachi - NIC number

[agarhi]

Hi,

I have to travel to Karachi for 3 weeks and my H1B needs to restamp.

Q1. Is it safe to be doing this in Karachi?
Q2. The VISA fee form has a field called NIC number, I assume this is some sort of unique customer ID for Pakistan citizens. When I asked a friend in Pak to go to a bank and try to pay my VISA fee, the banker refused to do so because he said NIC is mandatory. How can I get around this?

Thanks
Asif