Rawalpindi police to start e-ticketing at bus stands before Test

Rawalpindi police will introduce e-ticketing at bus stands and keep a digital record of passengers arriving in the city, as part of security arrangements for the ICC Test championship match in Rawalpindi from November 9 to 13.

Dawn reported on Friday that passenger details at bus and wagon stands will be logged through the Travel Eye app, and that hotels, guest houses and inns will register guests through the Hotel Eye app for the same period.

Both applications are already used by the police for digital monitoring of travellers and registration of guests. According to Dawn, they help law enforcement track visitors to the city and catch wanted criminals entering by bus and wagon.

ProPakistani reported the decision as "digital passenger monitoring" covering bus stands, hotels and guesthouses, and identified the fixture as Pakistan against Sri Lanka. Dawn described the match as the ICC Test championship series and gave the November 9 to 13 dates, but did not name the touring side; ProPakistani's report carried no dates.

Neither report said how e-ticketing would operate at the stands, whether passengers would buy tickets electronically or existing paper sales would be logged, how many stands would come under the system, or what it would cost. No start date beyond the five days of the match was given.

Neither report named the officer who issued the order or said whether a written notification had gone out. No departmental statement was quoted. Dawn also did not say where the data collected through the two apps is stored or how long it is kept.

The reports did not specify what information passengers would have to give at the counter, or whether the records would apply to people travelling within Rawalpindi district as well as those arriving from other provinces.

Rawalpindi is due to host the match from November 9, with the police registration drive for hotels and guest houses covering the same window, according to Dawn.