Islamabad, Kabul to put biometrics at border this month

System to check the illegal movement of Afghans across borders.

ISLAMABAD:

In a meeting of interior ministers of the two countries held in Turkey on Wednesday, Pakistan and Afghanistan agreed to launch bio-metric system at their border from the last week of this month.

Islamabad has been urging Kabul to establish the system on its side of the border to check the illegal movement of Afghans across borders and to document people entering and exiting the two countries.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik and his Afghan counterpart Bismillah Muhammadi met in Istanbul on the sidelines of a key conference on Afghanistan. The two ministers decided to work jointly to control illegal border crossings and to eliminate terrorism.

“Pakistan desires peace and stability in Afghanistan which is linked to progress and prosperity in the region,” said a statement issued by his office in Islamabad on Wednesday.

Malik also met with his Turkish counterpart Idrees Naeem Shaheen and the two decided to constitute a joint task force to check trafficking of Pakistanis to Turkey. The task force would look into matters relating to deportation of illegal immigrants and inform Pakistani authorities about the human traffickers, so that legal action could be taken against them.

Turkey also agreed to provide modern training to Pakistan’s police and other agencies on checking human smuggling. At Malik’s invitation, the Turkish interior minister would visit Pakistan soon.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 3^rd, 2011.