Senate Standing Committee on Information Technology has observed that despite repeated assurances, the mobile phone companies and their franchises continue to violate the rules and regulations, laid down by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) for issuance of SIMs.
The committee met at the Parliament House on Thursday with Senator Abdul Raziq in the chair for discussing the procedure adopted by the PTA regarding issuance of new mobile phone SIMs. The committee members pointed out that lately the incidents of kidnapping for ransom, theft and car-lifting etc were on rise because of undocumented and unverified mobile phone connections.
It also noted with concern that the cell phone companies were introducing such packages and incentives for the users, which clearly violated our social and ethical norms. The committee directed the PTA to take appropriate steps and immediately ban publicising such packages that flouted the social norms and customs of the society.
Committee Chairman Senator Abdul Raziq Khan presented several hundred mobile SIMs of different cellular companies, and said that all these SIMs had been purchased from the market without submitting any documents.
The committee disagreed with the PTA on the system introduced for the verification of new cell phone connections, and said that several flaws still existed in the system, which needed to be rectified. The committee further directed the PTA that in case of violation, the cell phone operator should be penalised instead of the franchiser or the retailer.
The committee appreciated the growth in the cell phone industry, but reiterated the government would not compromise on the national security and vowed to make all out efforts to bring improvements in the system in the best national interests.
Minister for Information Technology Qamar Zaman Kaira agreed with the committee that there were several lacunas in the existing verification system, and assured the members that efforts would be made to streamline the things at appropriate level. Earlier, PTA Chairman informed the committee that policy directives had been issued to make the verification process simpler and more effective and all sales were being made as per the guidelines of the PTA.
He also explained the procedure for the verification of the mobile SIMs and its physical demonstration. He said that the verification system had been deployed between the mobile companies and the National Database Registration Authority (Nadra). He assured the committee that all out efforts would be made to clean this profitable sector of the black sheep.
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