ISLAMABAD (Kashmir English): Several reports are circulating on social media that the Islamabad Safe City project has been using Israeli-origin surveillance software in cameras for more than a year.
The discussion erupted over social media after the Financial Times reported that Israel had used traffic and security cameras in Tehran to gather intelligence about Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s movements.
In a post on X, a journalist, Ayaz Khan, said, “I heard the safe city cam in Islamabad had software called Briefcam packaged into the bundle. An Israeli software that was being used to analyse video feeds from any chosen camera overlooking Islamabad. If that is, then we have been being watched for years.”
Although the software employed in those cameras was not BriefCam, it was also of Israeli origin.
I heard the safe city cam in Islamabad had software called Briefcam packaged into the bundle. An Israeli software that was being used to analyse video feeds from any chosen camera overseeing Islamabad. If that is then we are being watched for years https://t.co/9LprBZ81HM
— Ayaz Khan (@azzkhann) March 3, 2026
Islamabad police respond to rumors
A senior official of the Islamabad Police has confirmed to the Profit that the cameras installed in the federal capital for the Safe City project were once using Israeli-origin software.
The official said that the software had been in use from June 2021 to October 2022 and has been out of commission since then.
When questioned about reports suggesting that BriefCam was still in use as recently as 2023, the official indicated that there was likely an error in those reports or that they were referencing outdated information.
The police official said that a video analytics software, BriefCam, was pre-installed in cameras for the Safe City project in Islamabad. The cameras were provided by the Chinese company Huawei.
He further indicated that the BriefCam application had been utilised for a year. However, this occurred after the company was acquired by Canon and integrated into a Danish firm, “Milestone”.
“This application has not been operational since 2022. We employed it for one year, from 2021 to 2022, and during that period, it was procured under the services of Canon Japan,” the official said.
‘It was implemented as a test run but was ultimately discontinued after a certain period due to the expiration of the license, among other reasons.”
