KARACHI, Oct 20: Mobile phone operators are still reluctant to render stolen cellphones dysfunctional despite clear instructions from the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority in this regard has launched the drive on September 30.

The PTA had directed all the GSM cellular phone companies to start using the mobile phones jamming device from September 30 to render dysfunctional any cellphone reported stolen, snatched or missing in order to help recover the set and effectively curb the crime.

The PTA had also asked people to lodge such complaints at the PTA’s helpline number, Madadgar 15 or any number of the Citizens-Police Liaison Committee.

The PTA has claimed that more than 5,000 such phone sets have so far been blocked whereas more complaints were being forwarded to the concerned mobile phone companies upon being received.According to the statistics of the CPLC, 40,769 cellphones have been taken away by bandits from January to October 20. Of them, 14,935 were snatched at gunpoint and 25,834 were stolen. The police statistics, however, show that 1,600 cellphones have either been snatched or stolen in the city during the first nine months of this year.

No authority, except the CPLC, is maintaining the data of the cellphone snatching and theft incidents. Recently, the police had been considering the exercise of collecting cellphone snatching/theft data on the pattern of that of the carjacking in order to have a clear picture of street crimes in the metropolis.

Following the introduction and activation of the cellphone jamming technology, the CPLC started monitoring the system and took notice of slackness on the part of mobile phone companies in using the jamming devices.

The CPLC informed the PTA and the Sindh Home Department in writing that the response and efficiency of the mobile phone companies were not up to the mark.

CPLC Chief Sharfuddin Memon told Dawn that the institution had taken up the issue with the PTA and the home department. “I have sent letters to these authorities and mentioned that the cellphone companies are not taking interest in jamming the stolen phone sets,” he said.

Regional Director of the PTA Rizwan Hyderi, when contacted, said that the system of jamming stolen phone sets was working properly. “We have received the CPLC communications in this regard and ensuring strict compliance on the part of mobile phone companies. We have also received reports about defiance or slackness in this regard in certain cases, but the matter is being looked into,” he maintained.

Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, during his recent visit to Karachi, chaired a meeting on law and order and directed the law-enforcement authorities to apprehend any cellphone dealer found involved in buying and selling stolen phone sets. He directed the authorities concerned to take stern action to curb the street crime.

The government and the police have issued advertisements to the media informing general public that stern action would be taken against anyone found reviving a cellphone set rendered dysfunctional by a mobile phone company.

The government, as well as the authorities concerned, have been making efforts to put a strict check on mobile phone snatching and theft.

In this regard, record of mobile phone companies is scanned at random. In the course of this exercise, the authorities concerned had once found that some mobile phone operators had issued more than 8,000 connections in the name of a single applicant in a blatant violation of rules and regulations, that do not allow issuance of more than 10 connection to one applicant.

The matter was brought to the notice of the PTA, but no action has so far been taken in this regard.

Despite the hectic efforts being put in, some mobile phone operators have started selling their pre-activated connections on roads. New schemes offering more and more balance and benefits are being introduced by the mobile phone operators. Salesmen of one such company would gather at any square, roundabout or intersection of a busy thoroughfare to offer connections without seeking any document. The buyers of such SIMs (connections) are kept completely unaware of the identity in whose name the connections are issued.

Officials in the law-enforcement agencies have apprehended that such irresponsible dealings would add thousands more untraceable SIMs that could be used in some criminal activity. As the SIMs are not issued in the name of the actual user, the police could face difficulty in tracing out the criminal who would take advantage of the fake identity in case a SIM is used in committing a crime.