Terming the recently published research report of Digital Rights Foundation (DRF) titled "Punjab Government's Safe Cities Project: Safer City or Over Policing" as baseless, Punjab Safe Cities Authority Chief Operating Officer Akbar Nasir Khan said on Saturday that the report has no due verification and authentication process.
"The PSCA has no agreement or MoU for research with the DRF which had clearly mentioned in its report that the institution relied upon secondary sources and media reports. The DRF conducted research without any lawful process and the PSCA reserves rights to take legal action on such baseless reports," the COO said while talking to a delegation of researchers at the PSCA headquarters.
According to Nasir, the PSCA is a national security project and its data is absolutely secure as per international standards. To acquire certain data from the PSCA for investigation and legal processes, the law enforcement agencies (LEAs) needs to follow certain procedures. It is not possible to share data with anyone without following required procedures, he added.
"We are highly concerned with public privacy," he said, adding that 8000 cameras are installed on main roads, markets, important installations and routes in the city.
The COO said the PSCA's privacy policy is in place which is being followed in letter and spirit and citizen can read it on its website "psca.gop.pk", adding the Authority's operations are completely transparent.
"All our functions are based on proper legislative mandate from the provincial assembly in the form of the Punjab Safe Cities Authority Ordinance, 2015, and the Punjab Safe Cities Authority Act, 2016," Akbar asserted.
Answering a question, the COO said the police response time in Lahore has improved by 12 to 15 minutes due to the PSCA intervention through integrated emergency response system.
On the other hand, the methodology of the DRF's report states that the situational analysis has been limited to secondary research giving lack of response from the government authorities who were reluctant to provide any information or grant interviews to repeated requests made by the DRF. "However, we were able to conduct preliminary interviews/meetings with the PSCA, which was on the record and forms the basis for this study. Subsequent requests for interviews and meetings were repeatedly delayed and ultimately denied by the Authority," the report claims.
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