Identity crimes
It is encouraging to see commitment from Nadra to get to the bottom of the fake CNIC matter.
Nadra has called in the FIA to help it investigate a scam that involves the making of forged Computerised National Identity Cards (CNICs) and passports, in connivance with officials of the organisation. Four Nadra officials had been arrested after the detection of a similar racket in Punjab a short while ago. The whole business has serious security implications. The documents obviously go to people wishing to obtain papers in false names or those who are otherwise not eligible for CNICs, and dangers of this are grave in a time when terrorism stalks the world.
Nadra was set up under Pervez Musharraf as an organisation responsible for managing the computerisation of the identity card process. It had been hoped that the use of sophisticated technology, with holograms embedded in the cards, could help prevent fraud, a problem that has remained widespread for years. Even today it is not known how many fake documents are in circulation. But obviously, if people on the inside are involved in the rackets, no use of techniques aimed to eliminate forgery — by making it more difficult to manufacture cards without the proper machinery — will work.
What is encouraging is the evidence of a strong commitment from Nadra to get to the bottom of the matter. We are told ‘suspect’ officers have been kept under vigilance for some time and their patterns of behaviour watched. It is hoped that the arrests will prevent others from engaging in similar wrongdoing. There is, however, an element of wishful thinking in this. When money is at stake, the temptation to engage in practices that bring it in will always exist. What is needed is an investigation to try and track down the thousands of fake documents that have already been issued. Just thinking about whose hands they may have ended up in is terrifying, to say the least.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 13th, 2010.
Nadra was set up under Pervez Musharraf as an organisation responsible for managing the computerisation of the identity card process. It had been hoped that the use of sophisticated technology, with holograms embedded in the cards, could help prevent fraud, a problem that has remained widespread for years. Even today it is not known how many fake documents are in circulation. But obviously, if people on the inside are involved in the rackets, no use of techniques aimed to eliminate forgery — by making it more difficult to manufacture cards without the proper machinery — will work.
What is encouraging is the evidence of a strong commitment from Nadra to get to the bottom of the matter. We are told ‘suspect’ officers have been kept under vigilance for some time and their patterns of behaviour watched. It is hoped that the arrests will prevent others from engaging in similar wrongdoing. There is, however, an element of wishful thinking in this. When money is at stake, the temptation to engage in practices that bring it in will always exist. What is needed is an investigation to try and track down the thousands of fake documents that have already been issued. Just thinking about whose hands they may have ended up in is terrifying, to say the least.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 13th, 2010.