News
Tuesday, June 01, 2010
US presses Pakistan for more info on air passengers
* US wants information on Pakistanis who fly to other countries to feed into databases that can detect terrorists’ patterns, their financiers, logisticians and others who support them
WASHINGTON/LAHORE: The United States is increasing pressure on the government to provide it with much broader airline passenger information as part of its efforts to combat terrorism, The New York Times reported on Monday.
Citing unnamed US officials, the newspaper said the administration of President Barack Obama considers this information a crucial tool needed to track suspects’ travel patterns.
Names: The government currently provides the names of airline passengers travelling to the United States, the Times report said.
Databases: But the US wants information on Pakistanis who fly to other countries, to feed into databases that can detect patterns used by terrorists, their financiers, logisticians and others who support them, the paper noted.
Pakistan has for several years resisted this request, the paper noted. But the issue is now on a “short list” of issues between the two countries, which includes classified counterterrorism programmes and enhanced intelligence sharing, The Times said.
The report comes in the wake of the failed May 1 attack on New York’s crowded Times Square, in the city’s busy theatre district. A 30-year-old Pakistani-born naturalised US citizen, Faisal Shahzad, has been charged in connection with the incident.
The renewed urgency in the negotiations comes against the backdrop of evidence that both Shahzad and Najibullah Zazi, a former airport shuttle bus driver arrested last fall as the main suspect in a failed plot to bomb three New York City subway lines, received training in the Tribal Areas, the report says.
US President Barack Obama approved a new security protocol for people flying to the United States last month. The intelligence-based security system was created to raise flags about travellers whose names do not appear on no-fly watch lists, but whose travel patterns or personal traits create suspicions. daily times monitor/afp
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk