NATIONAL Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) continues to achieve one milestone after another under the dynamic and visionary leadership of its Chairman Tariq Malik, who in fact needs no word of introduction as the work carried out by him is very much visible and known to all and sundry. It is because of his efforts that NADRA has now emerged as a global leader in the industry of IT solution provider.
Going a step forward, NADRA has launched its cutting-edge Automated Finger Identification System (AFIS), branded as “NADIR”. Speaking at the launching ceremony the Chairman NADRA said indigenous development of AFIS is a groundbreaking development not only in the field of civil identification but in the pursuit of nation-building as well. With its advanced technology, he said we can now accurately and quickly store the fingerprints and identify individuals for a wide range of purposes as a public good, from immigration to border control to social services. The global market for biometric identification technology is at present and mostly dominated by providers from developed countries like the USA, UK, Russia, Japan, France, Germany and others. But now with the development of AFIS, Pakistan has joined the League of Nations that have developed their indigenous AFIS technology and is now set to offer its product in the international market to help countries improve civil identification, border control and e-governance. It is not less than a historic achievement on the part of the NADRA and it underscores the organization’s commitment to innovation and further solidifies its position as a global leader in advanced identity management solutions. We believe that the AFIS’s ability to search hundreds of millions of records can also help our security agencies while searching for identities of suspects, criminals, victims and unknown people. Also when analyzing a crime scene, it is of paramount importance to be able to separate fingerprints of the usual occupants and those of possible suspects. For this the AFIS is indispensable due to its quick response and matching time. We therefore will suggest that the system may also be made available to our security agencies to better deal with security related issues.
