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| March 5, 2002 | Tuesday | Zilhaj 20, 1422 |
Machine-readable passports planned
ISLAMABAD, March 4: The government has embarked on a Rs2.8 billion project to introduce machine readable passports (MRPs) to protect the integrity of the travel documents in line with international security technology, Dawn learnt on Monday.
Sources said the project, initiated with an extensive foreign funding component, would gradually phase out passports with pasted photographs by the end of 2003.
They said the Intelligence Bureau, interior ministry and the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) would act as the focal points for index checking of the 18 entry and exit points in the country. The key feature of the MRP would be the machine-readable strip. It can be read by a machine at passport control enabling immediate cross-referencing with immigration computers.
Asked if the United States Federal Bureau of Investigations would be able to access the data, Interior Ministry Additional Secretary Abdul Rashid Khan said the system would not be linked up with the FBI. However, he said, the technical assistance and training provided by the FBI would help Pakistan minutely scrutinise persons on the watch lists.
Diplomatic sources said a new US law required that countries that were participants in the US visa waiver programme had machine-readable passports by the 2003 rather than 2007, as required under the prior law.
The law also allows waivers for nationals of countries that the US attorney general finds are making progress towards meeting the requirements.
According to the law, each fiscal year until Sept 30, 2007, the US secretary of state must conduct annual audit of the implementation of the MRP programme; check for the implementation of precautionary measures to prevent the counterfeiting and theft of passports; and ascertain that countries designated under the visa waiver programme have established a programme to develop tamper-resistant passports.
After one year of enactment and every year until 2007, the secretary of state is also required to report to the congress on the findings of the most recent audit.
According to interior ministry sources, the MRP project would facilitate a large number of tasks for the officials with one of the main features being the online status index checking through the creation of a central index by networking all the entry and exit points.
Benefits of the MRP, sources said, include matching of photographs in suspicious cases.
Provision would also be made to connect Pakistani missions abroad to respond to queries as early as possible.
The passports would have scanned photographs, watermarks and machine-readable lines making forgery difficult. They would have personal particulars of the passport holder in alphanumeric form to make entry and exit at immigration counters quicker.
The system would enable automatic data and image capture from a passport, sources said.
Explaining the working of the system, sources said machines, obtained from the US, would be installed at the entry and exit points to serve as reading devices for the MRPs designed and printed in conformance with the applicable International Civil Aviation Organisation and ISO specifications.
The machine would automatically read and transmit relevant data contained within the machine-readable zone of the MRP to a host computer system or indicate an assessment of the quality of the document based on specific rules and specifications.
The machine, which can capture the photo image from the MRPs, can then store or compare with the live image of the bearer of the document. The device also adds magnification, multiple light sources and optical filter choices to the video examination support. Nadra would help the passports directorate general in preparation and issuance of the MRPs, sources said.
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