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Pakistan uses military spy technology to track Covid-19 cases - Telegraph

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Pakistan's military is playing an increasing role in tackling the Covid-19 pandemic, giving troops and medical and intelligence assistance

ByBen Farmer ISLAMABAD

Tracking technology from Pakistan's feared military spy agency is being used to trace Covid-19 cases as the country tries to switch from a broad lockdown to targeted restrictions allowing more of the economy to resume.

The system from the military's Inter Services Intelligence directorate (ISI) was originally devised to track terrorists and is believed to be based on mobile phone data.

Generals last week said that “all army resources are being used at all levels to combat this pandemic” and the military was fully supporting the government.

Assistance includes the use of telecommunications and intelligence, military sources said. One Western official said the military had well developed telecoms spying systems, potentially allowing it to detect when someone moved out of a defined quarantine area.

"The ISI has given us a great system for track and trace," the prime minister, Imran Khan, said last week. "It was originally used against terrorism, but now it is has come in useful against coronavirus."

Troops will also be used to man cordons and checkpoints around quarantined virus hotspots if necessary. Army medics have been deployed to aid the Covid-19 response and the military's five testing laboratories are working with the civilian National Institute of Health to increase testing capacity.

Pakistan has so far seen 253 deaths and 11,940 cases in its population of more than 220 million. While numbers are lower than early projections, there are worries a lack of testing is hiding the true picture, and a significant outbreak in a country with patchy healthcare and a huge population could be devastating. The country is also trying to balance halting the spread of the disease, while limiting the appalling economic fallout of a lockdown in a country where a quarter live in poverty.

Under intense pressure to resume trading and commerce, the government is attempting to switch to a “smart lockdown” which would only restrict the most infectious areas.

"A smart lockdown, and testing, tracing and quarantining will drive our efforts against Covid-19. We will have a targeted lockdown only for virus hotspots and clusters," said Maj Gen Babar Iftikhar, spokesman for the military's information wing.

Pakistan's military is widely considered the most dominant institution in Pakistan and has governed the nation for much of its history. Its military spy agency has a formidable domestic security role, as well as being accused of a history of supporting militants to provide foreign policy muscle in Kashmir and Afghanistan.

The army's increasing role in the response to the Covid-19 pandemic has led to speculation Mr Khan has been sidelined after appearing to hesitate in the early days of the outbreak.

Mr Khan repeatedly said he was opposed to a lockdown because of the toll it would wreak on the nation's poor. Individual provinces then moved on their own to impose wide-ranging restrictions and the army was deployed in support of civil powers.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-...military-spy-technology-track-covid-19-cases/
It's time to invest more in Civilian bureaucracy, so that military is not called for everything.
 
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Very strange article. It shows that author is desperate to write a story on the system Pakistan is using but has near to none info on what that system is. It starts from a satellite and then morphs into a phone data tracking system. Then ends on troops deployment. It is better not to write about something you don't know anything about. Seem like some journalists asked few military experts about their opinion about what type of system Pakistan is using and the article ended up covering all the flooks of those experts without giving any concrete info.
It's a code language. Shell I decipher it for you?

- PRTP GWD
 
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The real question is why does The Telegraph believe it's necessary to publish such an article, when hundreds are dying daily in the UK. Why is Pakistan's COVID19 response given importance??

Perhaps something for Mi5 to ponder
 
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he says too many things


that is not an answer.

if a head state states we are using ISI resources on National TV (not debunked by ISPR) v some random blogger who says things in a bandwidth...

go figure where u stand.
 
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that is not an answer.

if a head state states we are using ISI resources on National TV (not debunked by ISPR) v some random blogger who says things in a bandwidth...

go figure where u stand.

Pakistan does not employ any mass surveillance system on her populace.

A close knit society like Pakistan does not need sophisticated methods to track and trace her citizens.

Stop being melodramatic prado
 
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Pakistan does not employ any mass surveillance system on her populace.

A close knit society like Pakistan does not need sophisticated methods to track and trace her citizens.

Stop being melodramatic prado


lol....

got you rear handed to you on plate.. didnt you?.

a world of advise... do your home work before contesting me... many posters have found to their agony.

here u go


Imran Khan says Pakistan using ISI software to track suspected COVID-19 cases

To track suspected novel coronavirus, or COVID-19, cases in the country, the Pakistan government is reportedly using an Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) software, Prime Minister Imran Khan said on April 23.

The software being used was originally meant for surveillance and tracking down terrorists by the country's spy agency ISI, news agency PTI reported.


The news comes at a time when the number of COVID-19 patients in Pakistan has crossed 11,000.



PM Khan made the disclosure during the live Ehsaas Telethon to raise funds to support the people worst hit by the pandemic.

https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/c...-suspected-covid-19-cases-report-5185761.html




u can watch here


 
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lol....

got you rear handed to you on plate.. didnt you?.

a world of advise... do your home work before contesting me... many posters have found to their agony.

here u go


Imran Khan says Pakistan using ISI software to track suspected COVID-19 cases

To track suspected novel coronavirus, or COVID-19, cases in the country, the Pakistan government is reportedly using an Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) software, Prime Minister Imran Khan said on April 23.

The software being used was originally meant for surveillance and tracking down terrorists by the country's spy agency ISI, news agency PTI reported.


The news comes at a time when the number of COVID-19 patients in Pakistan has crossed 11,000.



PM Khan made the disclosure during the live Ehsaas Telethon to raise funds to support the people worst hit by the pandemic.

https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/c...-suspected-covid-19-cases-report-5185761.html




u can watch here



he claims a lot of things.

no one is willing to give Xulfi Bukhari any data in Pakistan.
 
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he claims a lot of things.

no one is willing to give Xulfi Bukhari any data in Pakistan.


Mr Kulfi?.. where does he come in to the picture?..

i taught your narrative was Pakistan doesnt use it;s intelligence resources for tracking Corona?... it was some bullcraap as you claim.

changing goal posts are we?
 
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Mr Kulfi?.. where does he come in to the picture?..

i taught your narrative was Pakistan doesnt use it;s intelligence resources for tracking Corona?... it was some bullcraap as you claim.

changing goal posts are we?

There is no system in place.

He may have simply highlighted that all resources are being used as comfort words.
 
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