Secretive technology to find virus patients in Pakistan
GEO-FENCING AND PHONE MONITORING TRADITIONALLY USED TO TRACE MILITANTS
PAKISTAN’S intelligence services are deploying secretive surveillance technology normally used to locate militants to instead track coronavirus patients and the people they come into contact with.
In a programme publicly touted by prime minister Imran Khan, the government has turned to the powerful Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI) for help in tackling the virus, which is spreading at an accelerating rate in Pakistan.
Details about the project have not been released, but two officials said intelligence services are using geo-fencing and phonemonitoring systems that ordinarily are employed to hunt high-value targets, including homegrown and foreign militants.
A lack of awareness, stigma and fear have contributed to some people with symptoms not seeking treatment or even fleeing hospitals, while others who’ve had contact with virus patients have flouted self-isolation rules.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a senior security official said that agencies are now “quite effectively” using the technology to track coronavirus cases.
“The government has been successful in tracing even those who tested positive but went into hiding,” the security official said.
Geo-fencing, a discreet tracking system that alerts authorities when someone leaves a specific geographic area, has helped officials monitor neighbourhoods on lockdown. Authorities are also listening in to the calls of Covid-19 patients to monitor whether their contacts are talking about symptoms.
“The trace-and-track system basically helps us track the mobile phones of corona patients, as well as anyone they get in touch with before of after their disappearance,” an intelligence official said.
Khan recently praised the programme, which has come up against little public debate or scrutiny over its use. “It was originally used against terrorism, but now it is has come in useful against coronavirus,” he said.
At least 76,398 people have tested positive for the virus and 1,621 have died, as Eastern Eye went to press on Tuesday. But with testing still limited, officials worry the true numbers are much higher.
Pakistan’s intelligence services and military hold vast sway over many aspects of cultural and political life and some rights groups worry authorities might abuse their sweeping surveillance powers to trace political dissidents.
Authorities in the country struggled to present a cohesive national strategy to control the coronavirus. Khan was reluctant to call for a sweeping lockdown, arguing the impoverished country could not afford it. He also caved to pressure from Pakistan’s powerful religious lobby, which pushed back against the closure of mosques.
Many Pakistanis have simply ignored provincial lockdown orders and Khan has allowed businesses to reopen in phases, citing the economic impact on daily wage earners. (AFP)