ISLAMABAD: Authorities in the Pakistani capital have intensified enforcement against vehicles without mandatory electronic tags with more than 166,000 cars now registered, according to data released on Sunday evening, as Islamabad moves to strengthen security and digital monitoring at key entry and exit points.

The Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) administration introduced the electronic tagging system late last year as part of a broader effort to regulate traffic, improve record-keeping and enhance surveillance in a city that hosts the country’s main government institutions, foreign missions and diplomatic enclaves.

Under the system, vehicles are fitted with electronic tags that can be read automatically by scanners installed at checkpoints across the capital, allowing authorities to identify unregistered vehicles without manual inspections. Vehicles already equipped with a motorway tag, or m-tag, are exempt from the requirement.

“A total of 166,888 vehicles have successfully been issued M-Tags so far, including 3,130 vehicles in the last 24 hours,” the ICT administration said, according to the Excise Department.

Officials said readers installed at checkpoints across Islamabad are fully operational and are being used to stop vehicles still without tags, as enforcement teams carry out checks across the city.