The employees of Integrated Border Management System (IBMS) set up to secure data of those entering and leaving the country and identify terror elements have not received their salaries for the last three months which may result in the systems closure.
Sources within the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) told Business Recorder that three months ago IBMS sent a summary of Rs 226 million to Ministry of Finance through Ministry of Interior for its non-development expenditure including salaries of 254 employees. "Due to delay in release of salaries, the employees, mostly computer experts, may be forced to quit which will result in closure of IBMS - a system playing an active role in the implementation of National Action Plan (NAP)," sources said.
The IBMS security data of those entering and leaving the country is at 26 entry-exit points including all international airports - Benazir Bhutto International Airport Islamabad, Jinnah International Airport Karachi, Bacha Khan International Airport Peshawar - land routes, railway stations and seaports.
Sources said that reliable database of all international travellers visiting or leaving the country with proof and documentation including photographs and scanned copy of passport etc has been established. Law enforcement agencies and Interpol are benefitting from this data, they said.
The FIA sources said that IBMS is an indigenously developed system designed to replace the US-originated Personal Identification Secure Comparison & Evaluation System, (PISCES), which was established in 2002 with many new additional features. The IBMS has been designed as per immigration laws of Pakistan. This helps prevent illegal entry, use of counterfeit documents, human smuggling and other travel frauds, sources said.
The US provided Pakistan and 16 other countries including Afghanistan, Iraq and Yemen PISCES in 2002 as part of its Terrorist Interdiction Programme to enable immigration and border control officials to document and identify people exiting and entering the country. After the end of PISCES project in 2009, the FIA decided to replace it with IBMS protect which was in force till 2015 when it was decided to convert it into a permanent wing of the agency.
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