PHC dismisses petitions against sale and use of unregistered SIMs

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court on Thursday disposed of writ petitions against the sale and use of unregistered Subscriber Identity Modules (SIMs) in the country after mobile companies blocked such devices on the direction of Pakistan Telecommunication Authority.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel and Justice Muhammad Daud Khan disposed of the writ and contempt of court petitions with the observation that the purpose of the writ petition had been served as the mobile SIMs companies had blocked the illegal and unregistered SIMs on the PTA directives. About the payment of taxes issue, the bench asked the petitioner that he may file an application in the proper forum, including Federal Board of Revenue, about non-payment of taxes. During the hearing, Amjad Ali and other lawyers, submitted before the bench that the unregistered SIMs had been blocked in the country and the mobile companies were also paying taxes to the government.
In 2013, the court in a writ petition by Muhammad Atif Haleem, a franchiser of a cellular company, had directed the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to block the unregistered SIMs of all cellular companies operating in the country and Afghan SIMs activated in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and tribal areas.
The order was issued by the then PHC chief justice, now a judge of the Supreme Court, Dost Muhammad, and Justice Nisar Hussain Khan in the petition.
The petitioners had sought blocking of all unregistered SIMs of the cellular companies in Pakistan and de-activation of thousands of SIMs of the Afghan cellular companies in the country, particularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Federally Administered Tribal Areas. They had taken the ground that these SIMs were being used in extortion, kidnapping for ransom and terrorism cases. Following the court’s directives, the PTA had earlier submitted report that it had blocked all the Afghan SIMs operating in Fata and KP.
Muhammad Atif Haleem had filed a writ petition in the high court. Supported by documents, he had submitted before the bench that the cellular companies operating in the country had sold out millions of SIMs without paying duties and taxes. He had submitted that these unregistered SIMs were being used for extortion, kidnapping for ransom and terrorism, which was not only a serious threat to the national security but also the citizens.
The petitioner had contended that the Afghan cellular companies SIMs were directly activated in Pakistan, particularly in KP and Fata, because different cellular companies in Pakistan had given a free hand to the Afghan companies without keeping in view the International Protocol on subject under the garb of roaming facility.