Task Force to curb Gray Traffic, unauthorised SIMs

A high level meeting was held in the Ministry of Interior under the chairmanship of Federal Minister for Interior, Senator Rehman Malik to examine the ways and means to curb Gray Traffic in Pakistan. Secretaries of Interior and Information Technology Ministries, Director General FIA, representatives of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority and other government departments were present on the occasion. Different issues were discussed in the meeting including capacity of monitoring system which is presently only 30% and needs to go to the level of 100%. Ministry of Information Technology has been requested to pursue the matter for sanction of funds.People have been advised that all those who have got more than the prescribed limits of SIMs should surrender immediately to PTA as a thorough scrutiny of the SIMs has been ordered and any body found in possession of those SIMs shall be proceeded with in accordance with the law.It was decided in the meeting that the punishment/penalty for the violators would be enhanced from three years to seven years and fine from Rs. 10 million to Rs. 50 million besides making it non-bailable offence.It was also decided that 20 million cash reward shall be given to anyone who will point out the Gray Traffic to the authorities and 10% of the recovery will also be given to the informer.A Task Force has been announced whereby a team will be headed by Director, FIA Shahid Nadeem Baloch and sub task forces comprising of representatives from ISI, IB, PTA and local police will also be constituted.The Task Force will submit, every fortnightly, report of their progress on the cases/raids to curb gray traffic.It has also been decided by the Government that there will be zero tolerance for gray traffic in Pakistan and its progress/monitoring shall be jointly done by the Secretary Interior and Secretary Information Technology.