KARACHI: Unregistered SIMs to be blocked by Feb 1, says adviser
KARACHI, Jan 23: Adviser to the Prime Minister on Interior Affairs Rehman Malik has expressed the hope that the law and order situation in the province, particularly in Karachi, will be improved in the coming days.
Talking to newsmen after holding a meeting with Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah here on Friday, Mr Malik claimed that the overall law and order situation in Sindh, particularly in Karachi, was far better than before and the peaceful observance of Ashura was its proof.
In support of his claim, the adviser said that the incidents of kidnapping for ransom have come down while there was a 45 per cent decline in the cases of petty crime.
In reply to a question, he said that Karachi was a multiracial city where people from many other countries had also settled. Compared with New York City, he said, the crime rate in Karachi was far less. He praised the leadership of the Sindh chief minister and his team for bringing about improvement in the peace and order of the province.
Unregistered SIMs
Mr Malik said that the misuse of cellphones was one of the reasons behind occurrence of crimes. Around one million Subscribers Identity Modules (SIMs) were still unregistered and could be used in committing criminal acts, he added.
He informed newsmen that the cellphone companies had been directed to block all unregistered connections by February 1.
He said that new rules had been framed for the issuance of new SIMs which would be delivered at the residential addresses after verifying the buyers’ computerised national identity cards from the National Database Registration Authority. The interior adviser said that the use of snatched or stolen cellphones had been criminalised and the telecom service providers were asked to block such SIMs of the snatched/stolen phones on the basis of their IMEI numbers. He said this would also make the sale of snatched cellphones impossible.
Mumbai investigations
When asked about progress made so far in the investigations of the Mumbai terror attacks, Mr Malik said that the government was conducting a probe in accordance with the Pakistani laws and there was a consensus among the nation that a criminal, irrespective of his nationality, is a criminal and deserves punishment.
He said India had been asked to give concrete evidence, if it had any, instead of accusing Pakistan. He said it was due to the right policy of the Pakistan government that after 48 days of the incident, the Indian leadership had gone back on its statements many times. “Rest assured that the Pakistan government was not going to take any step contrary to the law of the land and will pursue the policy on terrorism as has been framed by parliament.”
Swat situation
Mr Malik said that the government was pursuing a three-pronged policy of dialogue, deterrence and development for tackling terrorism. He claimed that the policy yielded results in FATA where peace had been restored.
He said that apprehending collateral damage, the government had so far avoided deterrence action in Swat. However, after the approval of the federal government the action had started in the valley and about a dozen terrorists had been arrested and were being interrogated, he added.
He said that compared to Fata, Swat was a small place where extremists had come from the tribal areas and they were operating in each village in small groups.
He claimed that after the launching of the three-pronged action in Swat, there would be a visible change within a week.
With regard to a scheduled meeting of the core committee of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement and the Pakistan People’s Party to be held at the Governor’s House on Friday night, he said that holding meeting with the MQM at the federal and provincial level was a routine consultation process.