KARACHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) chairman to submit a blueprint of measures to stop ‘grey trafficking’ and use of unauthorised SIMs by criminals in Karachi.
A five-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, was seized with the hearing of Karachi law and order implementation case at the Karachi registry.
The chief justice observed that mobile phone SIM cards of different telecom companies were being sold in open market in unauthorised way, which facilitated the accused involved in heinous crimes including extortion and kidnapping for ransom.
The PTA chairman told the court that one of the cellular companies was going to inaugurate biometric system by which SIMs would be issued only after Nadra verification.
Counsel representing cellular companies submitted that SOP and other directives were issued with regard to registration of SIMs, adding that a large number of unregistered SIMs have also been blocked following those directives.
Additional IG Police Shahid Hayat informed the bench that about 3,000 activated SIMs were seized by the police along with China originated smuggled activation machines. He said that unregistered SIMs were being issued which were used mainly in extortion and kidnapping for ransom cases.
The bench observed that current registration system was deficient and required to be revised.
The chief justice remarked that if stringent laws regarding registration of SIMs were followed and issued after verification by Nadra, the crime rate would have declined by 50 per cent.
The five-judge bench also expressed its concern over grey trafficking causing loss to the economy of the country. The PTA chief told the judges that issue of grey trafficking had increased due to duty being charged on international calls.
Meanwhile, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) placed on record the report showing details of daily clearance of goods from ports along with the record and manifest correspondence.
FBR chairman Tariq Bajwa told the court that the department was making an all out effort to deter tax evasion and added that due to the efforts of FBR, government had earned 24 per cent more duty.
The chief justice directed the FBR chief to bring in some systematic improvement in duty collecting system and honest officers to contend with tax evasion and smuggling of arms and drugs.
The bench directed Attorney General of Pakistan and Advocate General Sindh to go through the report submitted by FBR and assist the court by suggesting ways and means to take adequate measures in ensuring 100 per cent recovery of duty on goods.
The bench observed that black money generated through tax evasion and smuggling of weapons and drugs was causing loss to national exchequer besides fueling crime.
The bench was utterly disappointed over report filed by the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) regarding operations conducted by it to control flow of drugs in the city. The bench also scolded the ANF for not controlling drug business in the city.
Chief Justice Chaudhry said the ANF should have shown zero tolerance against drug dealers in the area.