ISLAMABAD: A petition was filed in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday seeking complete ban on Afghan SIMs in Pakistan.

The petition was filed by Raja Saimul Haq Satti advocate.

In his petition he contended that still around 50,000 SIMs of Afghan mobile telephone companies are being operated inside Pakistani territory, using international roaming services to make and receive calls.

He said the government had directed the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to curtail use of illegal and unregistered Afghan SIMs in Fata and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa because of security issues.

He claimed that these SIMs were being used terrorists in anti-state activities and other serious crimes.

Apart from this, the SIMS also work on their local Afghan networks in certain Fata regions which are close to the Afghan border, it further said.

It alleged that the PTA was not equipped to trace grey traffic as illegal exchanges are causing billions of rupees loss to the exchequer.

The petition requested the court to direct the PTA and telecom service providers to block and suspend the operation of millions of illegal, unregistered Afghan SIMs.

Published in Dawn, January 6th, 2015

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