Nadra devises ‘criminal record system’ to track terrorists’ activities

ISLAMABAD: National Data- base and Registration Authority (Nadra) has developed a comprehensive “criminal record system” to assist the law enforcement agencies in tracking activities of terrorists and other criminals through effective use of technology.
The Authority is also developing software for the registration of religious seminaries across the country and the same will soon be handed over to the Ministry of Interior, which is implementing the National Action Plan (NAP) against terrorism, a senior official told The News.
He said the criminal record system has already been delivered to the law enforcement agencies and now the authority is in process of developing a biometric database for terrorists and criminals with the help of these agencies, a senior official told The News.
The software has the names and other basic information about the criminals and terrorists and Nadra will further assist the law enforcement agencies in collecting biometric details of those criminals, he added.
As a part of crackdown against alien registration, the authority has so far identified around 64,000 Afghan nationals who tried to register themselves with Nadra as Pakistani citizens.
“All these applications have been rejected before reaching the final stage,” the official said adding that around 3031 Computerized National
Identity Cards issued to Afghan nationals have been cancelled by the authority during last few months after the current chairman Usman Mubin took over.
According to documents, the Authority has also sacked its 140 employees including one Director General, three directors and 10 deputy directors for their involvement in financial corruption and in some cases for the registration of aliens as Pakistani nationals.
When contacted, Nadra spokesman Samad Khurram confirmed the sacking of 140 employees. He said some of the sacked employees have been sent to jail and a few have been handed over to Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) for further probe.
The spokesman said there is zero tolerance for corruption in Nadra and the chairman has directed all departments to take stern action against elements that are earning bad name to the authority.
Khurram said Nadra has seen positive changes under the leadership of Usman Mobin and its revenue for the first six months of the year has crossed Rs9.6 billion. The Authority has earned a net profit of Rs3 billion from February to July this year. The spokesman said the revenue of the authority remained Rs10 billion for the entire 2014.
He added that the data base agency has won a US $3 million contract from Kenya to prepare electronic passports. “The project will start in
October and the Minister for Interior Chauhdry Nisar will visit Nairobi next month to attend the launching of Kenya’s electronic passport service,” he said adding that Nadra is the only public sector institution, which is exporting technology.
The authority has also helped telecommunication companies in biometric registration of 175 million mobile phone subscriber identity modules (Sims).