Islamabad: Federal Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunication Shaza Fatima Khawaja on Wednesday said the Pakistan Asan Khidmat Centre aimed to make government services easier and more accessible for citizens.
Speaking at an event at the centre, she said more than 60 government services from over 12 departments were being provided under one roof, enabling citizens to avoid visiting different offices and standing in queues. She said the average processing time for a digital service was around 10 minutes.
Shaza Fatima said the centre was not merely a building but represented the empowerment that the government, under Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif’s leadership, wanted to make possible for every citizen. She said the centre had been established in 90 days in cooperation with the government of Azerbaijan. It aimed to save citizens from visiting different offices and standing in queues.
She said citizens could obtain identity cards and passports and access services of Islamabad Police, CDA, Municipal Corporation, NADRA and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the centre. She said attestation and other daily documentation requirements were also available under one roof.
The minister said the centre had also introduced a facility for marriage and wedding ceremonies. She said a marriage had recently taken place there, with all related documentation completed within half an hour, including identity cards, paperwork and registration.
‘For me, for the wedding team, and on behalf of the Prime Minister, the celebration for us and the celebration of Independence Day centres around how much ease we have created for our citizens, ‘ she said.
Shaza Fatima said around 78 per cent of countries worldwide had digital IDs, adding that Pakistan had also started its digital ID system. She said that during the last two and a half years, around 30 digital transformation projects had been assigned to the National ID Board, of which 29 had been completed.
She said the one remaining project, being undertaken with the Ministry of Health, involved the serialization of medicines. It would enable citizens to verify with one click whether a medicine was authentic or spurious. She said 39 federal government departments had become paperless through digital transformation efforts.
She added that the Prime Minister had also taken his office system towards artificial intelligence.
The minister said the One Patient One ID system had been enhanced through the National ID Board, with 4. 2 million patient registrations completed so far. She said the system enabled 50 to 70 per cent more people to be served daily through the same OPD, doctors and facilities. She said the initiative was owned and led by the Ministry of Health.
Shaza Fatima said the National ID Board had also enabled the Overseas Citizen Engagement Platform. She said overseas Pakistanis could provide feedback, register complaints and offer compliments about their experiences at Pakistani missions.
She said work was also underway with the Finance Minister on data interoperability to make financial data interoperable and enable scenario planning and dashboards through AI and new technologies.
‘Our basic task of the ID Board, or of the Pakistan Digital Authority, or of the Ministry, is how we can support all institutions and enable their digital transformation, ‘ she said.
Speaking about the launch of the e-stamp, Shaza Fatima said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had launched the e-stamp system in Punjab when he was provincial chief executive.
She said that after becoming Prime Minister, he had entrusted responsibility for the initiative to the relevant authorities.
She said traditional stamp papers obtained from vendors often involved monopolies, higher costs and long queues, while physical stamp papers could also involve fraud.
She said the system had now been fully digitised and citizens would receive a fully verified digital document through the e-stamp facility.
She said citizens would not have to visit banks or undergo physical attestations and documentation for e-stamps.
‘The aim is that while using all this technology, how do we centre everything around people instead of processes?’ she said.
She stressed the need for citizen-centric governance, saying the citizen experience should remain at the centre rather than processes.
The minister said Pakistan had also started talking about digital independence. She said just as Pakistan had physical boundaries, it also had digital boundaries.
Referring to last year’s war, she said Pakistan had achieved great success under the leadership of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Chief of Army Staff and Chief of Defence Forces Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir. She said conventional warfare had played a role in the conflict, while digital warfare had also been important.
She said ensuring digital sovereignty was an existential issue for Pakistan and that considerable work was being done in this regard.
Shaza Fatima said Pakistan had emerged as a top-tier cybersecurity country in the world, according to the International Telecommunication Union. She said efforts were also underway in digital transformation, digital identity, data exchange, taxation, connectivity and export growth. She said Pakistan’s export growth was currently around 20 per cent annually.
‘Working collectively on all these things, I will say that today, by the grace of God, when we are celebrating the 79th Independence Day, I can tell you with absolute certainty that Pakistan is moving forward on its digital front, in the right direction, very fast, ‘ she said.
