THE system behind the character certificate verification done by the Police Khidmat Markaz (PKM) needs a slight but critical improvement. When a certificate is verified through PKM website, only the photo of the applicant, his/her CNIC number, name, father’s name, date of birth, and permanent address are mentioned in the result on the basis of which the system verifies that the document is genuine and issued by Punjab Police. The missing element is the image of the original certificate. This can cause problems.

The original certificate also mentions in relevant cases that a legal matter against the person is in the courts, and mentions the relevant details of the case. In case there is no criminal record, the certificate says so in as many words.

With the image of the original certificate not there in the verification process, a person with criminal record can easily fabricate a certificate to the contrary knowing that the verification would be done on the basis of CNIC details alone.

All subsequent actions, like academic admission, employment, foreign visa applications, etc., are generally based on PKM verification. And things can get tricky from hereon.

Therefore, the police department in Punjab should immediately update the mechanism so that the image of the original character certificate may also be added to the online verification system.

Syed Karar Hussain
Gujrat

Published in Dawn, November 21st, 2022