Committee to look into issue of unverified SIMs

DIGs will work with the PTA to identify SIMs and ensure the use of biometric verification

KARACHI: A police committee has been formed to look into the matter of unverified SIMs in the province with the help of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), said a statement issued on Wednesday.

The committee, which consists of DIGs, will formulate practical recommendations to identify unverified SIMs and to ensure the use of the biometric verification system (BVS), it was decided at a meeting chaired by Sindh IG Ghulam Hyder Jamali.

According to a Sindh police spokesperson, the meeting proposed that unverified SIMs that had not been used for over a month should be blocked. The PTA is also to direct cellular companies to bind their customers to get their SIMs verified through BVS within a given timeframe. The National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) may be requested to give the police access to SIM verification data as well.

The spokesperson added that a nine-member PTA delegation informed the meeting that a Joint Working Group, comprising representatives of the information technology and information ministries, NADRA, the Federal Investigation Agency, the Intelligence Bureau and the PTA, had already been formed to look into the issue of the availability of unverified SIMs and to devise a comprehensive reverification plan through BVS.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 27^th, 2014.