Daily Times

National Assembly Standing Committee on Information Technology and Telecommunications has directed Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) and National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) to bring a plan of action to block the illegally issued mobile SIMs.

The committee expressed its concern on the indifferent attitude of both the departments for not complying with its directions after lapse of considerable time. The Standing Committee on Information Technology and Telecommunication met here Tuesday with Ali Khan Jadoon, MNA in the chair. The committee was apprised that PTA had introduced stringent measures to check the illegal issuance of SIMs and the problems had been considerably reduced.

The PTA representative informed that PTA had also taken punitive action against mobile operators whose sales centers or franchises were found involved in issuance of SIMs without fulfilling mandatory requirements and verification. The committee was not satisfied with the reply, therefore, directed PTA and NADRA to bring a plan of action before the committee within 15 days. The Committee also decided to call Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in next meeting to discuss issues related to cyber crimes. The Committee observed that FIA was lagging behind in curbing cyber crimes due to its capacity issues. The Committee also decided to call Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in its next meeting to discuss Media Development Authority Ordinance.

The committee while discussing the Calling Attention Notice moved Ch. Faqir Muhammad, MNA regarding failure of the PTA to curb pornography, blasphemous content and hate speech on social media. The mover contended that PTA had not been able to stop such content which had destroyed the social fabric and also created intolerance in the society. The PTA representative apprised that the Authority had taken stringent measures to block such content, however due to technological constraints and limitation the content hosted by the websites offshore, action cannot be taken. He apprised that PTA was constantly in touch with all social media platforms and actions were taken time to time.

He said that action had been initiated against violators under cyber crime laws.

The Committee pended discussion on The Pakistan Telecommunication (Re-Organization) (Amendment) Bill, 2020” and The Electronic Transactions (Amendment) Bill, 2019 moved by Amjid Ali Khan, MNA till its next meeting.

The meeting was attended by MNAs including Sahibzada Sibghatullah, Sher Ali Arbab, Makhdoom Zain Hussain Qureshi, Muhammad Abdul Ghafar Wattoo, Mr. Muhammad Aslam Khan, Nusrat Wahid, Muhammad Hashim, Ali Gohar Khan, Romina Khurshid Alam, Maiza Hameed, Shamim Ara Panhwar, Mahesh Kumar Malani, Naz Baloch, Syed Mehmood Shah, Choudhary Faqir Ahmad, Secretary M/o Information Technology and Telecommunication and other officers of concerned departments.