Illegal SIM activation: Petitioner no longer implicated by FIA

The petitioner had been accused of issuing a SIM in the name of Rehman Malik.

KARACHI:

The Sindh High Court (SHC) was informed that a private cellular service provider's customer care employee was not involved in illegally activating mobile SIMs in the name of former interior minister Abdul Rehman Malik.

The disclosure was made by the lawyer of a petitioner, Sumaira Ali Abbasi, who had gone to the court for protection from arrest in connection with the illegal activation of a SIM in the name of then interior minister.

The petitioner said that she was working as a customer care executive at the CATCOS under contract of the U-fone in 2012. On January 17, a caller asked her to activate a mobile SIM in the name of Abdul Rehman Malik, whose official capacity was not disclosed from the other end, she said.

The petitioner maintained that she had verified the particulars of the person in whose name the SIM was being activated as per the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP). She said that the media had reported the scam on the basis of which a high-level inquiry was ordered by the interior minister.

Sumaira claimed that she had activated the SIM in accordance with the official SOP laid down in 2009 and which was still applicable. She said that the federal investigation agency had registered a case and initiated investigations against her. Meanwhile, some personnel from the intelligence agencies had started harassing her and her family.

During Tuesday's hearing, her lawyer Kashif Hanif, said that the FIA has filed a final charge-sheet with the relevant court, adding that the petitioner's name has not transpired in the final report. In view of the petitioner's non-implication, the lawyer said he would not press the petition for further hearing. Headed by Justice Ahmed Ali M Sheikh, the bench dismissed the petition in view of the submission by the petitioner's lawyer.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 4^th, 2014.