LAHORE, Nov 11: Interior Minister Moinuddin Haider on Monday inaugurated the Personal Identification Secure and Comparison Evaluation System (PISCES) at the Lahore airport, terming it inevitable for the national security.

The system has already been installed and become operational at the country’s two other international airports in Karachi and Islamabad.

The function of the PISCES, completed at a cost of Rs300 million, is to computerize the record of passengers travelling into and out of the country to check the movement of suspected terrorists and illegal immigrants.

The system will be transferred to the new airport terminal which is expected to be inaugurated in January next.

Speaking on the occasion, the minister said the launch of the PISCES would help improve the security system. Such systems would also be installed at the Peshawar and Quetta airports next week and at the remaining airports and exit points by March next. All intelligence agencies and police would benefit from it in solving criminal cases, he added.

Mr Haider said over two million illegal immigrants lived in Karachi which reflected weakness of the country’s immigration system. The name of the national airline, he said, had also been tarnished at the international level because of the immigration officials’ inability to check illegal immigrants travelling by it due to loopholes in the exist system.

The minister said a Machine Recordable Project (MRP) was in the pipeline and would be installed at all airports in a couple of months. Terming the project of international standards, he said, it would cost Rs2.8 billion.

To improve the security and check the illegal immigration at the country’s western borders, a sum of Rs5 billion had been allocated, he said. He said about $13 million were also allocated to improve policing in the country. He asked police to change their culture and enhance efficiency.

Mr Haider assured that these projects would be completed within two years. The new government would also continue implementation of these projects, he added.

Later talking to reporters, he denied press reports that the PISCES was being connected with the FBI.

He said Pakistan only provided information to the FBI about suspected terrorists.

Replying to a question that the PISCES was funded by the FBI, he said Pakistan was a partner of the international coalition against terrorism and there was no harm in taking funds for such projects.

He said Dr Amir Aziz was in the custody of the intelligence agencies and was not being handed over to the FBI. He said he had arranged a telephonic conversation between him and his family and the matter would be resolved in a week.

He said Dr Amir’s name had surfaced after the arrest of the suspected Al Qaeda men from Pakistan. The presence of FBI officials in Pakistan was always in single digit and it was authorized to arrest any one from Pakistan.

He suggested that politician should sit together and form government with consensus. He ruled out chances of re-elections, saying huge money was needed for it and the country could not afford it.

Earlier, FIA director general Mohib Hasan said the PISCES would make the country a more orderly state. The PISCES was initiated in 1998 and new recruitments in the FIA would ensure the success of this programme.

He said the PISCES would help detect those who travelled on illegal documents, and suspected terrorists and others who were required in criminal cases would be arrested easily.

He said the new system was inter-linked with all FIA offices in the country.

Project director Amad Jaffery said the PISCES was linked to the country’s entry and exit points. The system had two stages. At the primary stage, the passengers would be required to provide their travel history to immigration officers at the time of their arrival and departure at the city’s international airport. And if any of the passengers was found suspected, he would have to get through the second stage in which finger prints, digital photography and other scanning would be done.