PTA Chairman’s absence irks senators | Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF)

Pakistan Press Foundation

PTA Chairman’s absence irks senators

ISLAMABAD – Expressing strong annoyance over the non-presence of PTA Chairman in the Sub Committee meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Interior on Saturday directed all mobile phone companies to adopt measures to restrict unauthorized sale of mobile SIMs in the country.

Sub Committee’s meeting chaired by Senator Gulshan Saeed observed that the mobile telephone companies were issuing connections in bulk without verifying the identities of the subscribers from NADRA with a view to promote their business by surpassing the rules and regulations framed by PTA.
The members of the Committee expressed the view that the mobile phone companies were fleecing the nation of billion of rupees and that increase in the use of mobile phones was one of the main reasons showing an upward trend in the rate of crimes in the country including the terrorist activities.
The representative of NADRA informed the committee that online verification system had already been introduced by NADRA and that cellular companies could benefit from this scheme. He further informed the committee that as per their record 20.1 million connections had so far been issued by various mobile companies out of which verification of 17.25 million connections had been carried out by these companies.
Source: The Nation
Date:8/5/2007