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Data of all Pakistanis being fed into FBI computers
By
IOL South Asia Correspondent
New
Delhi, Feb.16 (IslamOnline) - The newly installed hi-tech computer system,
Pisces, at the Karachi International Airport is posing a serious threat to
Pakistan's security, said the Pakistani online magazine, Weekly Independent, in
its current issue.
According
to the magazine, Pisces is connected with the American FBI databank and the
newly upgraded Interpol datastore through satellite for instant transmission and
retrieval of information. It is also linked with Pakistan's identity card-making
body, the National Database Registration Authority (Nadra), through a landline.
"Thereby the system, being supervised and monitored by the US, is using,
storing and updating all available information with Nadra about every Pakistani
citizen", the magazine said quoting sources.
All
the names of Pakistanis put on the Exit Control List (ECL) by the government
have also been fed into these computers to check their fleeing abroad, added the
sources.
The
Pisces (Personal Identification Secure, Comparison and Evaluation System) is a
supercomputer equipped with a software to identify and check any US-wanted
Pakistani citizens boarding international flights, Pakistan Civil Aviation
Authority officials said. The system contains data on worldwide bomb explosions,
suspected, wanted and convicted terrorists as well as information regarding car
thefts the world over.
The
system is also equipped with a software to match the basic physical features
like height, skin color, prominent identification marks, fingerprints, eye color
and type of hair of a terrorist with any passenger boarding any international
flight. All passengers have to go through the Pisces scanning system to board
any flight, added the sources.
"To
check passports and other identification papers, Pisces is supported by flex-cam
cameras connected to special software, which can film the subject from any
direction and magnify it by manifold," Weekly Independent said quoting
computer experts.
The
special high-speed program, designed by Microsoft for airports, has been named
"Sentry". It contains Intel's most sophisticated microprocessors.
According
to the Pakistani online magazine, the system was basically installed to check
the large-scale flight of Afghans and Arab volunteers, who participated in the
war against the US alongside Taliban. The US State Department computer experts
installed this system on December 9, 2001 at the Karachi airport. The entire
set-up is stationed in the Intelligence Bureau (IB) headquarters in Islamabad
and its Karachi offices, where the US experts along with IB officers control its
operations. As a result, no passenger can fly out of Pakistan without the
FBI's clearance.
"The
new system has posed a serious threat to domestic and external security
operations of the country. Like any other country, Pakistan too would be sending
its personnel to various countries for intelligence purposes. But now it is
almost impossible to keep such missions secret because of the Pisces scanning
system and its linkage with Nadra”, the magazine said quoting security
experts.
Eventually
this system would be installed at 18 exit points of Pakistan, including Torkaham
and Chaman. At present, it has been installed at two points: Karachi and
Islamabad airports. The same system would be installed at the Lahore airport on
March 3 this year. "This system has been established in most parts of the
world and will keep a strong check on the movement of those leaving their
respective countries," the magazine said.
Though
it is an effective tool against the movement of terrorists and illegal
immigrants, it would harm the security operations of any country in the world.
"Pakistan should particularly be concerned about the system owing to
Islamabad's off-and-on relationship with the US and Washington's cozy ties with
New Delhi and Tel Aviv. Even before the US had provided satellite images of
Kahuta and other facilities to Israel, it had already passed them on to
India," an official told the online magazine.
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