Raising punishment for illegal phone use: Senate body suggests amendment in PTA Act

The Senate Standing Committee on Interior has suggested amendment to section 131 of the PTA Act to increase punishment for the illegal use of telephones to at least three-year imprisonment and Rs 1 million fine.
The Committee has asked the Information Technology Ministry, Interior Ministry, and the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to prepare a draft within three weeks to be placed before the parliament for legislation, said Senator Talha Mehmood, chairman, Senate standing committee on interior here on Tuesday.
He said the standing committee came to know about a kidnapping for ransom, in which Wireless Local Lope (WLL) set was used and there was no record of the connection. The PTA, he said, was asked to submit a complete report of the WLL data immediately.
"Criminals are using modern technology during offences and we have to counter these crimes through the same technology and trace the criminals", said Talha Mehmood.
He expressed dismay at passivity displayed by the Technical Committee, a Standing Committee of the Senate, formed three months back which includes people from the information technology and interior ministries, the PTA and the National Police Bureau. He asked the committee to present the report in its next meeting.
"It is imperative to control the rise in crime attributed to unregistered mobile SIMs", said Talha Mehmood, adding that the pre-activated SIMs of the cell-phone companies are the main cause of all problems, as anyone can get a pre-activated SIM and use it for any purpose.
He said that the Committee took the matter up with the IT Ministry and the PTA and asked them to impose a complete ban on the sale of pre-activated SIMs. "We gave them one-month to submit the proposal, after which a complete ban will be imposed on pre-activated SIMs", he said.
Talking on the issue of verification of unauthorised SIMs, he said that in the first phase, up to January 31, 2008, the cell-phone companies had briefed him that only 470,000 SIMs out of a total of 7.454 million unauthorized are lying with Nadra for verification. He said that the second phase regarding the unauthorised SIMs scheduled to commence on 1, 2008 will be started soon.
The PTA and the cell-phone companies have admitted that violations are being committed in both rural and urban areas, he said, adding that in urban areas 10 to 17 percent subscribers are violating the rules while 24 to 36 percent retailers are responsible for violations. Similarly, in rural areas 25 to 40 percent subscribers and 26 to 58 percent retailers are violating the rules.
Police officials briefed the meeting that role of unauthorised SIMs in increasing crime is evident. During the last 7 months 15 kidnappings for ransom occurred in Rawalpindi while 142 crimes occurred in Islamabad, the culprits escaped as there was no record of the SIMs they were using, said Talha. He said that it is being considered that the police officials of SP and above ranks will be given access to national database to deal with crime effectively.