ISLAMABAD, July 24: During its investigation into the ‘UK visa scam’, the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) is trying to determine how the data relating to the holder of a forged computerised national identity card (CNIC) matched with the family tree of the original card-holder.

“We are focusing on the specific point – how information about the fake identity card-holder matched with the family tree of the original card-holder,” a senior official of Nadra told Dawn.He said the CNIC used in the sting operation conducted by the British tabloid The Sun was originally issued in 2000 in the name of Muhammad Ali and at that time Nadra had no biometric system, which captures fingerprints and even retina of an applicant.

“More than 350 attempts to get a fake or duplicate CNIC are foiled daily since Nadra introduced the biometric system in 2005-2006,” the official said.

He said 350 cases a day would not have been detected if the system was flawed and vulnerable to forgery. “We believe that one can change the name and photograph on the card but he cannot change the whole family tree.”

The official said only a small number of CNICs had been issued without the biometric data. “We have to be vigilant when renewing such cards to foil any forgery attempt.”

He said such forgeries had taken place even in developed countries. “No system is 100 per cent secure and even European passports, including that of the German interior minister were forged recently and 11,000 British passports had been forged in Dubai two years ago,” he said.

Nadra may lose contract

A senior official of Nadra said it appeared that The Sun had conducted the sting operation to defame Pakistan and to prove that the Nadra database was vulnerable to forgery attempts.

The scandal may have an adverse impact on Nadra’s efforts to win a $66 million Kenyan contract to develop a system to make smart identity cards.

The official said Nadra was close to reaching a deal with Kenya when Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf chairman Imran Khan claimed in an interview with Wikileaks founder Julian Assange on July 21 that former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and Adviser to the PM on Interior Affairs Rehman Malik had offered to share with the United States personal data of Pakistanis.

Nadra which claims to have the biggest computerised database in the world has won several international contracts and provided services to Sudan, Kenya, Nigeria and Bangladesh and the United Nations High Commission for Refugees.

It is learnt that Nadra has put in place a CNIC system in Sudan, preparing machine-readable passports for Kenya, has prepared a plan for making computerised driving licences for Bangladesh and registering Afghan refugees in Pakistan under a UNHCR programme.

A source told Dawn that the interior adviser had barred Nadra chairman Tariq Malik from holding a press conference on the visa scandal.