PAC meeting: Interior ministry a ‘major player’ in illegal telecom traffic

Member PAC says FIA involved in grey traffic.

ISLAMABAD:

The government decided in principle to propose seven year imprisonment and Rs5 million in penalties to curb illegal telecom traffic while all stakeholders at Public Accounts Committee (PAC) meeting on Tuesday concluded that the interior ministry was a “major player” in the grey telecom market.

Every year, 5.5 billion minutes terminate in Pakistan and a quarter of this traffic comes in via illegal channels, Secretary Ministry of Information Technology and Communications (MITC) Saeed Ahmad Khan told the PAC.

Presently, the maximum punishment for illegal telecom traffic was Rs 100,000 fine and one year imprisonment, he added.

According to reports, unaccounted traffic causes a loss of $25 million per month.

The Federal Investigation Agency has been involved in grey traffic and confiscated gateway exchanges are sold to illegal players, said member PAC Hamid Yar Hiraj.

“Without connivance, illegal telecom business cannot be run”, said Khan, prompting Hiraj to go a step further and say that “the Interior Ministry is a major player in the grey market”.

While secretary Khan did not name the interior ministry, he said he endorsed whatever has been said about the players.

Road tax for Nato containers

The PAC recommended the government to levy a road tax on Nato containers since their daily movement causes immense wear and tear to road infrastructure.

Additional Secretary FATA Fazal Karim Khattak said the secretariat has raised the issue with United States that has agreed to offset the impact.

Auditing Fata

The PAC also asked office of the Auditor General of Pakistan to audit the Federally Administrated Tribal Areas (Fata), particularly political agents, as members of the PAC levelled corruption allegations against them.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 15^th, 2011.