66m dormant SIMs blocked under NAP, Senate told

ISLAMABAD: Minister of State for Information Technology Anusha Rehman said in the Senate that up till now, as many as 66 million dormant SIMs had been blocked under National Action Plan (NAP).
She was talking in response to the calling attention by Senator Kalsoom Perveen as she provided this information on behalf of Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA).
She contended that through biometric verification, blocked SIMs could be unblocked. The entire process of SIM verification, she noted, was to be completed within 91 days.The senator had drawn attention of the House towards problems being faced by general public for bio-metric verification of their SIM cards and blockage of millions of unverified cards by PTA.
Replying to another calling attention notice by Senators Saleem Mandviwala, Rubina Khalid and Rubina Irfan, Commerce Minister Khurram Dastagir informed the House that commercial councilors were appointed on contractual basis and on expiry of it, they were being asked to return.
He noted that new appointments would be made through a vigorous selection process and till the new ones would join, the incumbents would continue. On this, the chair asked the minister to consult the Law Department regarding interim duty of the outgoing councilors.
The chair welcomed the commerce minister for offering to make a statement on Pak-Afghan trade ties and the outcome of his recent visit to Kabul, where he also met President Dr Ashraf Ghani.
He apprised the House of various measures being taken to expand trade and commerce relations between the two sides as per vision of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif that Pakistan and Afghanistan would attain well-being through economic integration.
The minister noted that there had been in recent months, tremendous momentum with regard to bilateral economic cooperation punctuated with a number of confidence-building measures. He noted suspicion was being replaced with facilitation and hostility with amity between the two nations.
When the House resumed business, Deputy Chairman Abdul Ghafoor Haidri was in the chair. During the question hour, Minister of State for Federal Education and Professional Training Baligh-ur-Rehman told the House that 690 students belonging to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had been sent abroad on scholarships for higher studies during the last five years by the HEC.
He said merit and provincial quota was being observed completely in this regard. He said Rs6 billion had been allocated for scholarships during the current financial year.
The minister informed the House that physical education was being introduced in schools as part of education policy. He said it would promote sports in the country.Replying to a question, Baligh-ur-Rehman said that the government had a pro-active stance for placement including employment abroad. He said during the recent visit of Amir of Qatar to Pakistan, the prime minister had got approved a quota of 200,000 labourers to be sent to Qatar.
He pointed out that the government had also mobilised reputed employers who had committed to provide employment to 20,000 persons this year. He said the government would also introduce Vocational Secondary Schools programme under which middle level students would be given technical training in different fields.