TI validates NADRA’s stance in outsourcing of data of millions of Pakistanis overseas

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Transparency International (TI) Pakistan on Tuesday validated the stance by National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) and withdrew its questions raised about the alleged involvement of interior minister A. Rehman Malik in the outsourcing of the data of millions of Pakistanis overseas.
In a letter written to NADRA Chairman Muhammad Tariq Malik by TIP Adviser Syed Adil Gilani, it was stated that the TI had examined NADRA’s detailed reply received vide letter No NADRA/PMO/58 dated August 27 to the allegations reported in print media on July 14, to the TIP’s letter sent to Malik for comments/clarification on July 16. “At the outset, TI Pakistan would like to inform you that Article 19-A of the constitution of Pakistan makes the right to access of information pertaining to a public authority a fundamental right. Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah in his landmark judgment Ataullah Malik vs Federation of Pakistan laid down the following on February 3, 2011. PLD 2010 Lahore 605: “Right to information is another corrective tool which allows public access to the working and decision making of the public authorities. It opens the working of public administration to public scrutiny. This necessitates transparent and structured exercise of discretion by the public functionaries. Article 19-A empowers the civil society of this country to seek information from public institutions and hold them answerable.”
In its response to TI, NADRA’s chief stated that in 2009 through public advertisements in leading newspapers, NADRA invited Expression of Interest (EOI) for operations relating to Issuance of Smart National Identity Card for Overseas Pakistan (NICOP) and Pakistan Origin Cards (POC) in the United Kingdom and Europe (“the Project”). “That thereafter, after thorough evaluation and due scrutiny, the Bid submitted by International Identity Services (IIS) was found adequate and, hence, the Contract for the Project was awarded to the IIS. The IIS was established as a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) company by its sponsors, namely, Howard Denton International (HDI). Therefore, NADRA thoroughly evaluated the credentials of Howard Denton International and when satisfied that it met the requisite criteria, the Project was awarded to IIS”.
Malik stated that since the monetary value of the contract was not expressed as a lump sum figure being merely projections dependent on different variables, NADRA was continuously assessing the financials of the contract and as it was reasonably found/ascertained that the contract’s value shall in all kind likelihood exceed Rs 50,000,000, a copy of the contract will certainly be forthwith shared with NAB. “That the observation in your letter regarding the purported involvement of an Indian national, Asish Patel, is not correctly conceived. As per IIS, the said Mr Patel does not work for it, but for a company which was hired by IIS to develop the latter’s website Mr Patel is a British national who neither possesses nor has previously possessed an Indian passport and has also reportedly never traveled to India”.