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Afghan SIMs: Court issues notice to PTA chairman
By Our Correspondent
Published: January 9, 2015
ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday issued notice to Chairman Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) chairman over a petition seeking ban on Afghan SIMs being used in Pakistani territories.
Justice Athar Minallah has directed PTA Chairman Syed Ismail Shah to submit his reply to the petition filed by advocate Raja Saimul Haq Satti.
The petitioner informed the court that around 50,000 SIMs of Afghan cellular companies are being operated in Pakistan through international roaming services, which the petitioner maintains is illegal.
The petitioner said that Afghan SIM cards are being used in crimes such as extortion, kidnapping for ransom, and bomb blasts.
He claimed that the government had directed PTA to curtail operations of illegal and unregistered Afghan cellular networks in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa because of security issues, but the regulator has taken any action.
Satti said that law enforcers had a few years back raided an illegal voice-over internet protocol (VoIP) set-up in Peshawar and recovered 17,000 Afghan SIMs. The set-up was owned by a multinational telecom group and Afghanistan’s Roshan cellular networks. They had roaming facility agreements with two Pakistani cellular companies.
The petitioner said that the federal government and PTA had not suspended roaming services for Afghan SIMs and requested the court to direct the respondents to suspend operations of millions of unregistered and illegal Afghan SIMs.
After primary hearing, the court issued notice to PTA chief and adjourned the case till January 22.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 9th, 2015.
By Our Correspondent
Published: January 9, 2015
ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday issued notice to Chairman Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) chairman over a petition seeking ban on Afghan SIMs being used in Pakistani territories.
Justice Athar Minallah has directed PTA Chairman Syed Ismail Shah to submit his reply to the petition filed by advocate Raja Saimul Haq Satti.
The petitioner informed the court that around 50,000 SIMs of Afghan cellular companies are being operated in Pakistan through international roaming services, which the petitioner maintains is illegal.
The petitioner said that Afghan SIM cards are being used in crimes such as extortion, kidnapping for ransom, and bomb blasts.
He claimed that the government had directed PTA to curtail operations of illegal and unregistered Afghan cellular networks in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa because of security issues, but the regulator has taken any action.
Satti said that law enforcers had a few years back raided an illegal voice-over internet protocol (VoIP) set-up in Peshawar and recovered 17,000 Afghan SIMs. The set-up was owned by a multinational telecom group and Afghanistan’s Roshan cellular networks. They had roaming facility agreements with two Pakistani cellular companies.
The petitioner said that the federal government and PTA had not suspended roaming services for Afghan SIMs and requested the court to direct the respondents to suspend operations of millions of unregistered and illegal Afghan SIMs.
After primary hearing, the court issued notice to PTA chief and adjourned the case till January 22.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 9th, 2015.
