A parliamentary watchdog yesterday assigned two lawmakers to inquire into the incident of counterfeiting of national identity card and talk to the Election Commission on the possibility of opening of its database to stop such forgery.
The parliamentary standing committee on Public Administration Ministry at its meeting expressed concerns as the police on Saturday detected a syndicate that made over 53,000 fake national ID cards.
The 10-member watchdog observed that the EC database containing the number and names of nationals should be opened to enable people to verify the authenticity of the data.
Awami League MP Abdur Rahman and RAM Obaidul Muktadir Chowdhury have been assigned to talk to the EC that maintains the restricted database.
“We have come to know about the haul of over 53,000 fake ID cards. Is there any guarantee that 53 lakh more have not been counterfeited already?” Abdur Rahman, MP from Faridpur 1, said while talking to the Dhaka Tribune.
“So, the database should be made open. We will talk to the commission officials and report back to the standing committee,” he said.
National ID cards are a must for opening bank accounts, taking admission and many other activities.
“Any bank opening an account must have the opportunity to verify whether the national ID cards are genuine. Otherwise, we will get fake bank accounts for illegal transactions,” a committee member told the Dhaka Tribune.
He said the person named Rahim caught by the police could easily introduce himself as Karim just showing a fake identity card.
Committee members ABM Fazle Karim Chowdhury, RAM Obaidul Muktadir Chowdhury, Sukumar Ranjan Ghosh, Md Abdullah, Mostafa Lutfullah and Amina Ahmed attended the meeting at the parliament building with Chairman HN Ashequr Rahman presiding.
