Terrorists to ‘lose big weapon’ as Pakistan tightens mobile phone control

Almost every citizen in Pakistan has a mobile phone, but from now on, authorities are checking to make sure their name, number and fingerprints are on record.

The measures are meant to tighten control of mobile phones and avert their use for militant attacks after the Taliban massacre two months ago at an army-run school in Peshawar.

Since the new measure was announced earlier this year, citizens have been lining up at mobile phone stores and in front of mobile vans and kiosks around the country to scan their fingerprints and verify their identities in order to keep their phones.

They have to show their Computerised National Identity Cards (CNICs) and fingerprints. If the scanner matches the print with the one in a government database, citizens can keep their SIM card. If not, or if they don’t show up, the mobile phone service is cut off.

The Dec 16 Pakistani Taliban attack on the school in Peshawar, which killed 150 people, most of them schoolchildren, shocked the nation. It was a watershed that prompted a series of government measures, including intensifying a military offensive launched in June against militant strongholds.

Authorities also introduced military courts to try terrorism-related suspects and stepped up financial monitoring to make it harder for militants to transfer money.

As for mobile phones, the government last year introduced biometric machines designed to check users’ identities, making the check mandatory for anyone who wants to get a new SIM card.

But in the wake of the Peshawar attack, all users are being checked, regardless of when they got their SIM card, to make sure those who have been issued a SIM card are actually the ones using it.

The project has been portrayed as a way to curb the use of mobile phones by militants and criminals in planning or carrying out attacks.

In explaining the measure, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan told lawmakers earlier this month that he was sure the terrorists “will lose a big weapon.“

A police official investigating the Peshawar attack said at least two of the SIM cards recovered from the scene were issued under the names of two residents of Punjab province.

The two later told authorities their names were misused.

The police official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss details of the investigation.

There are about 103 million SIM card holders in Pakistan and the goal is to re-check everyone by April 13, said Kurram Mehran, a spokesman for the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority.

Pakistan’s five cellular companies worked with the PTA to install fingerprint scanning devices around the country, Mehran said.

Already about 60 million SIM cards have been verified and 7 million blocked, he said. Punjab province chief minister Shahbaz Sharif said Wednesday that it was costing the government “millions of rupees.”

It’s not clear whether this will affect foreigners as well, or how many foreigners residing in Pakistan have mobile phones from local providers.

Amir Pasha, a spokesman for one of the providers, Ufone, said that so far they are only verifying Pakistanis with national ID cards.

Mobile phone companies have launched advertising campaigns and sent mobile vans around the country to win the people over.

Their websites warn SIM card holders of impending cutoff dates. Some Pakistanis are frazzled at the added bureaucracy, while others agree the measure could help curb illegal mobile phone usage.

“Those who have some bad intentions and are misusing mobile phones will not turn up for this verification. They know how to get their way,” said Hussain Khan as he waited in line at a mobile phone company office in Islamabad.

He said he had been there for 10 minutes and expected it might take another 30 to get to the front of the line. Badshah Hussain, a 38-year-old vegetable vendor, was a bit more upbeat. “This will not only help curb crime and terrorism but also protect people from … problems and troubles,” he said.

For example, no one could use his name to illegally get a SIM card and then commit a crime, he added.

Mobile phone companies will hold on to the scanners so that future SIM card buyers can be verified in the same manner, according to two PTA officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

The former head of the National Counter Terrorism Authority, Khawaja Khalid Farooq, said the verification could help authorities trace mobile phone users who commit crimes.

Previously, he said, SIM cards were often issued on fake ID cards. But he cautioned that oversight had to be consistent going forward and warned that criminals and terrorists always find new ways to cheat the system.