Tracking criminals: SHC wants new SOP for sharing telephone data

Limited access for police delays tracing, observes bench.

KARACHI: A court wants the authorities to go over the way that they share information and data from cellular phone companies to help the police quickly hunt down and arrest criminals.

Right now, the police have only “limited” access, which according to the provincial government’s law officer, delays tracking criminals.

The Sindh High Court’s Chief Justice Mushir Alam and Justice Ahmed Ali M Sheikh have given the Sindh home secretary 10 days to host a consultation with the secretaries of interior and defence, the chairman of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, the Citizens-Police Liaison Committee and inspector general of police.

In its order, the bench said that it wants them to revise the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) that was drawn in October 2008. They would have to discuss how to share the International Mobile Equipment Identity or IMEI facility, a unique 15-digit code with every handset.

The order, that was passed on Wednesday and made available here on Friday, pertains to two people who have beem missing for over a year. The law enforcement authorities have not been able to find them even though they have access to some mobile phone numbers used by their captors.

The judges were hearing different petitions, including the ones filed by Gulfam Bibi and Niamat Gul, when it noted that under the SOP has been provided to some of the law enforcing agencies under the ministry of defence.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 24^th, 2011.