PHC orders PTA to produce SIMs record
PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Wednesday directed the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to produce record of the number of SIMs issued in the country and the revenue generated from them within two weeks.
A two-member bench comprising Justice Nisar Hussain Khan and Justice Qaiser Rashid directed the PTA to submit a detailed report about the issuance of SIMs by the cellular companies operating in the country and the revenue generated from it.
The PTA’s lawyer informed the bench that it didn’t have the authority to block SIMs as it was a regulatory body and the federal government monitored the illegal and unregistered SIMs to block them.
Muhammad Atif Haleem, a former franchiser of a cellular company, informed the bench that illegal SIMs were used in maximum bomb blasts that took place in the country, particularly in Peshawar city.
He submitted that once the mobile phone was attached with a bomb someone setting in a foreign country could dial the number to trigger the blast.
He submitted that some residents from Peshawar received letters for extortion and a specific number was written on them. He said that when the police probed the matter it was found that the SIM was unregistered.
To a question about the use of illegal SIMs, the PTA counsel replied that the authority could fine the cellular company that had issued the illegal SIM and cancel its license.
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