#multi-biometric

ZKteco P160 Palm Recognition in Pakistan

Pakistan's experience with identity management dates back to 1973, when the eastern part of the country had just seceded and questions were being raised over who was a Pakistani and who was not. So a registration act was introduced in the parliament to create an authority that would register Pakistani citizens and issue them with a photo ID. In 2001, this authority was merged with a national database organisation to create Nadra, with the task of computerising all citizen data. In 2007, Nadra introduced what is known as the multi-biometric system, consisting of finger identification and facial identification data that was to be included in the citizen's computer profile. "By now, Nadra has issued 91 million computer generated cards, which is 96% of the entire adult population," says Nadra deputy chairman Tariq Malik. "This is one of the world's largest national databases." "During the last 40 years, we have graduated from identity management to database management, and we have now entered an era in which we can make intelligent use of this database to make our economic and political processes transparent and also to roll out services to the citizens," he says.