CPLC employee detained for leaking Rehman Malik’s personal information

The information was used to activate SIM card using Malik’s particulars.

KARACHI: An official of the Citizens Police Liaison Committee (CPLC) was taken into custody by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) for allegedly leaking out particulars of federal interior minister Rehman Malik.

The leaked information was later used for acquiring a cellular SIM card.

Habibur Rehman, an FIA inspector, confirmed the arrest but did not reveal the name of the detainee. He said that the FIA was also looking for the man who activated the SIM using Malik’s particulars.

The FIA also took five employees of National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) in custody from the office near Lucky Star in Saddar. However, they were later released after questioning.

Nadra’s Sindh chapter chief, Brigadier (retd) Zahid Hussain said that the FIA had approached them after receiving information that someone had used Malik’s information for requisitioning a mobile SIM.

The computer to which the information was traced back to had been used by three data operators. The operators were sent to the FIA office accompanied with their manager and assistant manager to explain things over.

“There was no raid. We handed over our employees to FIA ourselves,” said Hussain. “But thank God no one was found involved.”

According to him banks, CPLC and other security agencies have access to the Nadra database. Hussain though believes that the incident showed incompetence of the Pakistan Telecommunication Agency (PTA) in registering the mobile subscribers to their SIM cards.

However, a PTA official maintained that his agency did not have access to Nadra database. He defended the SIM issuing company, which he said had followed set procedures for issuing SIMs, and that it was not a question of regulation but the matter of concern on how the data was leaked.

“The SIM was activated after completing the required Standard Operating Procedure (SOP),” he said. “The subscriber gave all the correct information. The FIA should arrest the man who actually got the SIM activated so that they can pin point where the information was leaked from.”

However, the CPLC chief, Ahmed Chinoy, refrained from commenting and said that he will only say anything after the investigation was completed.