Govt to Issue ‘Smart Cards’ as One-Stop Identity Proof for Kashmiris?

The Modi-led BJP government is considering introducing “special one-stop identity cards” for residents of Jammu and Kashmir, a proposal reportedly made during a meeting in November between officials of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD).

These “hybrid smart cards”, if and when they are issued, would replace all other identity proofs for Kashmiris. The cards will carry “all relevant information” about the residents, reported the newspaper DNA. Data associated with the hybrid smart cards would be digitally stored and available for both online and offline identity checks.

These reports have raised questions about heightened and intrusive surveillance of Kashmiris, given the ongoing unrest in the Valley.

Local news outlets like the Kashmir Reader reported that MHA had “agreed” to support the proposal, and that it planned to annul all other identity cards in the state.

“The proposal includes having a unique identification code for the state’s citizens which can be used to access their data anytime,” the paper reported.

However, 70.4% of the population in J&K has already enrolled for Aadhaar, as per the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) figures up to 15 November 2017. And while the biometrics-linked Aadhaar project has raised its own questions about possible surveillance and privacy concerns, many are questioning the need for separate smart cards on similar lines for Kashmiris alone.

The MHA has already issued these cards to people in bordering areas of J&K, according to DNA. Similar cards were issued to fishermen in coastal areas after the 26/11 Mumbai attacks as well as to people in Punjab’s border areas.

The hybrid smart cards were proposed during the MHRD and MHA meeting in the context of an action plan to revive education in Kashmir, specifically in regard to teachers’ attendance, according to media reports. The government plans to issue smart cards to teachers.

A “senior official in New Delhi” reportedly said that the Union government planned to consult the Mehbooba Mufti-led PDP-BJP government in J&K, according to the Kashmir Reader, which didn’t name the said official.

“The proposal of the smart card will end the identity crisis for JK citizens outside the state. It will end the unnecessary harassment to Kashmiris in other states as their database will be available online,” the Kashmir Reader quoted the anonymous official as saying.

PDP leader Waheed-ur-Rehman Parra told the Kashmiri newspaper that there has to be some “justification” for issuing the card, but they did not know what it was yet.

“Once it is clear why the card is being issued, we will take a position,” Parra was quoted as saying.

Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative’s programme coordinator Venkatesh Nayak was quoted in local media as saying that the government owed an explanation as to why J&K residents were “being singled out”.

“It will raise suspicions that every activity of the people is being traced through some or the other method. This is unequal treatment and the government needs to come clean on it,” he reportedly said.

Smart cards for identity proof may, typically, carry an embedded microchip loaded with data. These cards may be used for all kinds of transactions, and may lead to intensified surveillance of the card users.