NADRA rejects allegations of data leakage

DG says chairman did not meet Maryam Nawaz in January

ISLAMABAD: The National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) has rejected all allegations regarding leakage of its data.

Nadra’s four directors general held a press conference at the authority’s headquarters on Tuesday to respond to the allegations of sharing of voters’ data with irrelevant persons.

The Nadra officials categorically stated that no data in any shape was shared with any political party or any irrelevant individual. They said former deputy chairman Syed Muzzafar Ali Shah was leveling baseless allegations and presenting proof of data leakage “which has no worth of any sort”.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had, through a letter to Nadra Chairman Usman Yousaf Mobin, also alleged that the authority’s officials had shared details of voters with “unrelated persons”.

The ECP mentioned some news reports which gave information on age and gender in electoral rolls, and said it suspected that the data could have been leaked by Nadra.

According to DG Project Nadra Zulfiqar Ali, an internal email was shown on television by a private channel regarding alleged data leakage. "The email was not linked to data leakage," he said, adding that an internal email of a year ago had been cited for leveling allegations.

Ali said that no data had been leaked ever since Nadra was established. He said that Shah “who is a disgruntled former employee of Nadra” was terminated from service on account of misuse of authority and leveling baseless allegations against the authority. He added that when “an employee is fired from his job, he starts leveling false accusations”.

He said that the Supreme Court had appreciated Nadra for its input in dual nationality case and the allegation of misleading the court in this regard was totally baseless. He said Nadra had also submitted a detailed report of its employees having dual nationality to the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

The DG said, “Nadra is an autonomous body whose audit is conducted by the Accountant General of Pakistan every year.” He made it clear that Nadra had developed a very strong internal system and “it is impossible for any individual working in the organisation to share the data”.

He said that misguiding the authorities with regard to internet voting was another baseless allegation against Nadra. He added that Nadra had developed internet voting system and it was Shah himself who had given presentation on it.

Ali said that the Nadra chairman never held any meeting with Maryam Nawaz in January this year. He said the pilot project of internet voting would be launched immediately after the July 25 elections.

The record shared with the media on the occasion revealed that as many as 15 Nadra officials hold nationalities of different countries including the US, the UK, Australia and New Zealand. These employees are serving in BPS-18 and below.