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ISLAMABAD: The October polls in Pakistan are in serious trouble as the Musharraf Government has failed to provide almost 10 million qualified new voters their computerized National Identity Cards (NICs) without which they cannot vote. If this NIC condition is waived, a new Pandora’s Box will open with chances of massive rigging and manipulation by all sides.
Apart from the 10 million applicants, record of almost 1.2 million applicants has been mysteriously lost by the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA), given the task of issuing these NICs.
The ID card scam appears almost deliberate as the Government had all the time and resources to handle it in time and properly. Now a serious blame game is going on with the Ministry of Interior (headed by an ex-general) accusing the Fauji Foundation (a corporate body also run by ex-generals) of incompetency, mismanagement and even corruption.
The Ministry has even recommended to General Pervez Musharraf to cancel the Fauji Foundation contract but it is unlikely any one else can offer to print 10 million cards in just about 50 days, or 200,000 cards per day, or over 8,300 cards per hour non-stop until the election day.
One former chairman of NADRA has already fled the country and is hiding in UK.
Almost 10 million applicants, a large number of them new voters who are 18 and above, are waiting for the new ID cards which cannot be delivered as these cards cannot be printed because the contractor, Fauji Foundation, did not import the correct raw material and five British suppliers have expressed their inability to provide the right stuff. An investigation as to who selected these British suppliers and on what terms will reveal some interesting facts about corrupt practices under a military government.
This is the second time NADRA has failed to deliver and this time it is going to cost General Pervez Musharraf a lot of political capital as his plan to tightly “manage” the results of the polls will be sabotaged if the ID cards condition has to be waived. Many voters and their supporting organizations could go to court if ID cards are not delivered which is a practical impossibility right now.
There wasno shortage of funds to do the job. NADRA had to borrow Rs 4 billion ($65 million) from the commercial money market at an exorbitant interest rate of 17 per cent, although standing government rules do not allow borrowing at more than 14 per cent. Some one made some quick money in that deal as well, it appears. The loan was secured after government gave a sovereign guarantee to the bank.
On top of the massive mismanagement at NADRA, run by men in uniform, officials are also admitting, in writing, that they have been forced to compromise on the sanctity of the entire process by issuing cards to non-authorized persons, according to documents available with SA Tribune.
Although it looks like an administrative and management problem in the documents, the entire mess smacks of a subtle political game to take away the voting rights of hundreds of thousands of voters, a substantial number from Sindh province, who are likely to support anti-Musharraf parties.
Sindh poses the biggest political threat to the military regime as the Pakistan People’s Party of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto is expected to retain its parliamentary strength in that province, throwing many spanners into the Musharraf Plan to raise a complaint legislature which could indemnify all his actions and approve his election as well as the constitutional amendments he is making.
The documents reveal that as late as July 17, 2002, a frantic SOS letter was sent by the Director General Operations of NADRA, Brigadier Zubair Ahmed to General Musharraf’s Secretariat, Army GHQ, Ministry of Interior and the contractor, Fauji Foundation, disclosing that the entire project to issue computerized ID cards was in jeopardy. Click here to view document Page1 | Page2 | Page3
The letter spoke of a meeting Brig. Zubair Ahmed had with the GM of Fauji Foundation in which both discussed the problems in printing of new ID cards and out of the pending 10 million applications, the contractor was able to print only one per cent or 100,000 cards. Following the meeting, Brig Zubair sent the SOS letter informing everybody about his grave problem. He informed the higher ups that:
- There were 400,000 fresh applications, which had been processed but could not be printed.
- NADRA will not be able to issue any ID card to women applicants who want to proceed for Hajj as they need a picture on their cards. (Previously women were not required to have a picture).
- A huge number of applications were “misplaced” and applicants were asked to re-submit them and 50,000 had already done that. Almost 1.2 million records are missing.
- The most intriguing part was that 500,000 applications in Sindh were waiting to get printed which could not be done.
- Above all some 8 million applications were pending in the normal course of work which also needed to be disposed of before the October polls.
The problem Zubair said was non-availability of standard quality laminated paper and the British suppliers had expressed their inability to provide the required quality. This issue had been discussed a month earlier at a meeting presided over by Interior Minister Gen. Moeenuddin Haider, but no body did anything, deliberately it seems. Click here to read the minutes Page1 | Page2 | Page3
The overall result, the SOS said, was that NADRA had been forced to issue cards manually for people requiring them on urgent basis. “This has forced us to compromise the basic essence of the project, that is to ensure issuance of cards to duly legitimate citizens·..The success of the entire project is in jeopardy.”
The SOS wanted every one to respond by July 22, 2002.
The whole mess raises some basic questions which have not been answered by any one so far. Among them:
- When October was known to be the election month, why was the Government waiting for millions of cards to be printed at the last minute.
- Who hired the British contractors and at what rates and who were the other bidders who were ignored? Were there any kick backs or corruption which landed NADRA or the Fauji Foundation into the mess with the suppliers?
- Who will suffer politically if these 10 million cards are not issued before the election date?
- Will the Government provide any relief to those who have been denied an ID card and what would be the form of that relief?
- Why has the issue not been resolved on an emergency basis so far? Who is dragging the matter and is there some hidden agenda to do so?
The answers to these questions will be difficult to obtain but it is certain that 10 million cards cannot be issued in two months. A large part of the voting public will stay without the right to vote, thanks to the inefficiency and mismanagement by the concerned authorities. And if at the last moment the ID card condition is waived, there would be a greater mess, leading to large scale rigging and manipulation. There seems to be no easy way out of this for General Musharraf.