KARACHI: During Friday’s hearing of the Karachi suo motu judgment case, the Supreme Court ordered the formation of a joint task force to curtail the use of illegal SIMs, DawnNews reported.

The order was issued by a five-member bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry after the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority presented its report before the apex court during the case’s hearing at the Supreme Court’s Karachi registry.

Justices Jawwad S. Khawaja, Mian Saqib Nisar, Amir Hani Muslim and Ejaz Afzal Khan were other members of the bench.

Earlier on Thursday, the bench had directed PTA chairman Ismail Shah to submit a blueprint outlining proposed measures to stop grey trafficking and use of unauthorised SIMs by criminals to commit crimes. The court had ordered the PTA chief to prepare a comprehensive report after holding a meeting with representatives of cellular companies and police officials.

Today, the PTA also presented its recommendation to the bench on approaches that can be taken to rein in the use of illegal SIMs. One of the recommendations was that import of mobile phone sets would not be allowed without IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) numbers. Another recommendation stated that within the period of one day, no more than two SIMs would be operable through a mobile phone.

The court after listening to the recommendations ordered that a joint task force be formed to check the use of illegal SIMs. Headed by chairman, the force is to have representatives from all provinces and would comprise of officials from the police, Nadra, intelligence agencies and the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR). It would prepare a list of recommendations and present a report to the apex court within three weeks’ time.

The case was subsequently adjourned for a period of three weeks.