Afghan authorities are discouraging people from going through the biometric border control system at Chaman and this could encourage infiltration of Taliban and Al Qaeda operatives into Pakistan, the chairman of the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) warned on Thursday.
Brig (r) Saleem Ahmed Moeen told a press conference here that the government had launched the biometric system at Chaman late last year to check illegal border crossings, but this would be difficult because of the “irresponsible attitude” of the Afghan side.
Moeen claimed that Afghan nationals were being instructed by government functionaries not to follow the system at the crossing points at the Pak-Afghan border. “The lack of seriousness from the Afghan side over this issue could encourage infiltration of Qaeda-backed terrorists into Pakistan,” he said.
In reply to a question, Moeen said that 24,000 nationals and traders from both sides daily passed through the biometric system. “Besides suspected figures, this system is aimed at keeping electronic records of people and traders who travel between Pakistan and Afghanistan to check unauthorised border crossings due to security reasons,” he said.
He hinted that the government would introduce more such systems along the Pak-Afghan border, particularly at Torkham. Moeen expressed displeasure at the non-implementation of a vehicle identification and monitoring system by government departments to track stolen vehicles. “Some key government agencies, including police, are creating hurdles in the way of this plan that could cut vehicle theft cases by 99 percent,” he said, adding that would take up this matter with President Gen Pervez Musharraf.
He said that stolen vehicles were commonly used in crime and NADRA was hoping the new system would dramatically curb crime. “We have developed a modern vehicle tracking system in Pakistan like the one installed at the Mexican border with the United States,” he said.
Moeen said that NADRA was likely to soon get a big contract for production of machine-readable passports from the Kenyan government. NADRA might also get contracts from African countries to develop a database of refugees for them.