Lt Gen Afsar appointed Nadra chairman

ISLAMABAD: Lieutenant General Munir Afsar has been appointed as chairman of the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) after approval from the federal cabinet on Monday.

In a statement, the Prime Minister's Office said the federal cabinet approved his appointment after it received a summary containing three names from the Ministry of Interior.

"The selection committee had shortlisted three best candidates for the post. After a detailed discussion, the cabinet appointed Lieutenant General Munir Afsar to the post," the communique stated.

Later, a notification was also issued, which mentioned that his appointment would come into effect immediately.

The three-star general, who was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant General in October 2022, has extensive experience in IT-related technical development and management in the Pakistan Army and Pakistan's Mission in the United Nations.

Lt Gen Afsar, who has received Hilal-e-Imtiaz (Military), has done his MPhil in Public Policy and National Security Management. He compiled a research paper on public policy response in the Geographic Information Systems (GIS) department during the 2010 floods.

The newly-appointed Nadra chairman did his MS in GIS and remote sensing. He was also awarded a presidential award for his paper on rapid geospatial data generation through photometry.

He did his MS in National Resource Strategy (C&IT Industry and Supply Chain Management) from NDU Washington, DC, where he was named a distinguished graduate.

He is currently a PhD candidate in Remote Sensing at NUST Islamabad. His research paper is related to the detection of plant diseases through remote sensing and artificial intelligence.

Lt Gen Afsar has several research publications to his credit related to various aspects of IT and GIS.

His IT-related work experience includes serving at the UN as a Military Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Officer. His extensive services include the development of a GIS application for flood recovery during the 2010 floods.

As a Major General, he was also the Director General of the DG Command, Control, Communication, Computers, and Intelligence (C41) Directorate, which is responsible for the overall management of IT.

After being promoted to the rank of Lieutenant General, he has served as Inspector General of Communication and IT as well as Commander of Pakistan Army Cyber ​​Command.