KARACHI: The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Friday ordered the formation of a task force to seize the working of illegal mobile phone SIMs in Karachi.
A five-member bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and comprising Justices Jawwad S. Khawaja, Mian Saqib Nisar, Amir Hani Muslim and Ejaz Afzal Khan resumed hearing Karachi law and order suo moto implementation case at the Supreme Court’s Karachi registry on Friday.
During today’s proceedings, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) chairman Ismail Shah presented a report before the apex court which contained recommendations which could be taken to curb the use of illegal SIMs by criminals to commit crimes.
One of the recommendations was that import of mobile phone sets would not be allowed without IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) numbers.
Another recommendation stated that within the period of one day, no more than two SIMs would be operable through a mobile phone.
Subsequently, the bench ordered to form a task force to check the use of illegal SIMs.
The task force will be headed by the PTA chairman and will have representatives from all provinces and will comprise of officials from the police, National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA), intelligence agencies and the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR).
The force will prepare a list of recommendations and present a report to the apex court within three weeks’ time.
Later, the court adjourned the hearing of the case for a period of three weeks.
