A former president of Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) and a leader of Businessmen Group, Siraj Kassim Teli, demanded of the government to block all prepaid and un-registered SIMs (Subscriber Identification Module without any delay. He also called for blocking even those SIMs which are registered but under fake names and being used in the country.
Speaking at a press conference at KCCI on Thursday, he described the prepaid SIMs as `mother of all crimes', saying over 80 per cent crimes of all kinds would be reduced with the blockage of such SIMs. The former KCCI chief urged the government to ensure that all mobile companies must first completely shut off pre-paid SIMs across the country and then immediately re-issue the SIMs through courier service on their postal addresses as per their CNICs. "Such a modus operandi will help in getting rid of all such SIMs which had been issued to the people other than the ones whose CNIC have been used and this procedure will hardly take three to four days in this era of high-tech," he opined.
He said action against unregistered and prepaid SIMs was needed because all the phones used in the incidents of terrorism, extortion and kidnapping were either unregistered or registered under fake identities. He said that prime minister's efforts aimed at improving the city's law and situation were being `sabotaged' as the latter was being `misinformed' by cellular phone companies and their accomplices in corruption. He said: "We simply do not understand whether lives are more important or the businesses of these mobile companies". He also criticised the concerned authorities for not inviting representatives of business community to the meeting which the premier presided to discuss the city's law and order.