May 25, 2007	Friday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 08, 1428

ISLAMABAD, May 24: A major damage to a fibre optic cable has broken communication link between the Passport Office and the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) disrupting data transfer activities since Monday.

Ahmad Jamil, director databases Directorate General Immigration and Passports Islamabad, told Dawn on Thursday that the Passport Office was unable to retrieve data from the Nadra to verify authenticity of candidates applying for computerised passports.

He said the cable was cut during construction works on the new double road running between sectors G-9 and G-8. The Passport Office was facing the problem for the second time.

“The Passport Office carried out core networking with Nadra through this cable. As many as 3.7 million computerised passports had been issued to date,” he said.

Elaborating on how the Passport Office and Nadra collaborated, Mr Jamil said: “For verification purposes the Passport Office as a routine retrieved information from Nadra’s central server to confirm the validity of information provided by passport seekers such as thumb impressions etc.”

“But we worked overtime on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays to make up for the inconvenience applicants had to face. Pakistan Telecommunication Corporation Limited (PTCL) had connected us through its other options while it repaired the broken line.

“The broken patch has been repaired still operation was slow. Things will be back to normal shortly once the broken patch is strengthened by the PTCL,” he added.

He said that the Passport Office had issued as many as 8,000 to 10,000 passports in a single day during peak days such as the Umra season.

As a backup measure, the Passport Office was now introducing a radio based system that would provide wireless connectivity with the Nadra. “This is to ensure that applicants don’t face inconvenience again,” he said.

However, sources at Nadra informed this scribe that five to ten minutes of disruptions were normal and were immediately taken care of.

“But on Thursday, connectivity was broken for 20 to 25 minutes because of Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) connection problems in F-8 that did cause disruption.

But Nadra had provided the Passport Office with two alternate solutions, satellite linkage and the high end high price radio based link (wireless) to prevent their process from coming to a halt,” the sources added.