No, it wasn't. In fact, the US had been warning you to take serious action since 2002....but you guys were thinking conspiracy theories.
The US created the problem(s) in our neighborhood - is that a "conspiracy theory" too?
But we were telling you how this was going to play out based on the history.
No, you were telling us how this was going to play out based on a knowledge of your long-term strategy for our part of the world.
Problem. Reaction. Solution. Create the problem, get the desired reaction, and then offer the solution that is in your strategic interests. That's how the game is played, and you'd be a fool to believe that we cannot see through it.
Had you taken these steps in 2002, thousands of lives would have been saved and terrorism would've been largely reduced a decade ago.
Hardly. As I pointed out
here, Pakistan has been collecting biometrics for years. In fact, fingerprints have been a standard part of the passport application process, AFAIK, from the early 1970s onwards (someone correct me if I am mistaken on the dates), way before automated fingerprint scanners were even invented, and way before there was a Global War of Terror. They are now mandatory for all adults renewing their ID cards and passports.
Has this mass biometrics collection of the past few decades saved Pakistanis from the scourge of terrorism in any way whatsoever?
The idea that tying a SIM card to your fingerprints will prevent terrorism is laughable. Replicating SIMS is not beyond the capabilities of any half-competent foreign agency that wishes to create turmoil in our part of the world. And it is even easier to steal someone's registered SIM card and use it for nefarious purposes. A safeguard against either is
impossible in the real world.
This is not about security. It is about control. And it has clearly been fast-tracked in Pakistan at the insistence of control freaks, wherever they may be.
But, I won't sit here cry over the past. The fact that it finally made sense and that it is now happening, is great. Good steps indeed and the work should continue till all citizens are safe in Pakistan.
The fact that you are here egging us on speaks volumes about your intent. Care to explain to us why is is that mass biometrics technologies have been almost exclusively trialled and rolled out in the Muslim world since 9/11? You know, stuff like the UAE's infamous eye scanners - invented by an American professor working at Cambridge University - where they eye-scan all visitors
except those from the so-called "First World"?
). Outside of that, go records whatever to make sure our homeland is safe and our people are protected from these crazy terrorists.
